Otto Jelinek

Otto Jelinek
Member of Parliament for High Park—Humber Valley
In office 1972–1979
Preceded by	riding created
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
Member of Parliament for Halton
In office 1979–1988
Preceded by	Frank Philbrook
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
Member of Parliament for Oakville—Milton
In office 1988–1993
Preceded by	riding created
Succeeded by	Bonnie Brown
Personal details
Born	May 20, 1940 (1940-05-20) (age 71) Prague, Bohemia
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Religion	Protestant

Otto Jelinek

Personal information
Full name	Otto John Jelinek
Country represented	Canada
Born	May 20, 1940 (1940-05-20) (age 71) Prague, Bohemia
Former partner	Maria Jelinek
Skating club	Oakville Skating Club
Retired	1962
Medal record Competitor for  Canada Pairs' Figure skating World Championships Gold 1962 Prague Pairs Silver 1960 Vancouver Pairs Bronze 1958 Paris Pairs Bronze 1957 Colorado Springs Pairs North American Championships Gold 1961 Philadelphia Pairs Silver 1957 Rochester Pairs

Otto John Jelinek, PC (born May 20, 1940 in Prague, Bohemia) is a businessman, former figure skater, and Canadian politician. Jelinek's family fled to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1948 at the beginning of the Cold War.

Figure skating career

Jelinek competed as a pair skater with his sister, Maria. They are the 1962 World Champions, the 1961 North American national champions, and 1961-1962 Canadian national champions. They represented Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where they placed 4th. The pair were the first to perform lifts with several rotations, and also performed side-by-side double jumps.^{[citation needed]}

After they won the World Championships in 1962, the Jelineks retired from competition, and toured professionally with Ice Capades.^[1] In late 1963, Jelinek became engaged to Darlene Streich, an American ice dancer who went on to win the U.S. Championships in that discipline in 1964.^[2]

The Jelineks were inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1962 and into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 1994.

Political career

After retiring from professional skating, Jelinek started a business, Canadian Skate Industries, to manufacture figure and hockey skates for the mass market. He also had considerable investments in real estate.^[3]

After a time in business, Otto Jelinek entered politics and was elected in the 1972 election to the House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for High Park-Humber Valley in Metropolitan Toronto. He was re-elected in 1974. In 1979, he switched to the riding of Halton, where he ran and won in the 1979 federal election.

When the Tories formed government after the 1984 election, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed Jelinek to Cabinet as Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport, and the Minister responsible for Multiculturalism.

In 1988, he was named Minister of Supply and Services, and later, Minister of National Revenue. Jelinek was returned to Parliament in the 1988 federal election in Oakville—Milton left politics after Mulroney retired and did not run in the 1993 election.

In politics, Jelinek was considered a right-wing conservative, and a staunch anti-Communist.

Business career

In 1994, he moved to the Czech Republic, and became chairman of the Board of Directors of Deloitte & Touche Central Europe, and chairman and managing partner of the firm in the Czech Republic, a position he held until 2006. In 2007, Jelinek assumed the role of chairman of Colliers International, CEE Region. Jelinek is also a chairman of the society Olympiad for Czech Republic, which leads the activities of Prague to become the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2011, Jelinek became a board member of Passport Energy, a Canadian oil and gas company.^[4]

Results

with Maria Jelinek

Event	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962
Winter Olympic Games						4th
World Championships			3rd	3rd	4th	2nd		1st
North American Championships			2nd				1st
Canadian Championships	1st J.	2nd	2nd	2nd		2nd	1st	1st

• J = Junior level

References

1. ^ "People", Skating magazine, November 1962
2. ^ "News About Skaters", Skating magazine, Dec 1963
3. ^ "Evolution... From Skater to Businessman", Skating magazine, Jun 1971
4. ^ passportenergy.com

• Canada's Sports Hall of Fame: Otto Jelinek
• Kubatko, Justin. "Otto Jelinek Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/je/otto-jelinek-1.html. Retrieved January 30, 2010. 
• "Skate Canada Results Book - Volume 1 - 1896 - 1973" (PDF). Skate Canada. http://skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/results/archives/SkateCanadaResultsBook-%20Volume1-1896-1973.pdf. 
• "Canadian National Championships Medallists" (PDF). Skate Canada. http://skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/results/archives/championships_results.pdf. 
• "World Figure Skating Championships Results: Pairs Medalists" (PDF). International Skating Union. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-148238-165454-56217-0-file,00.pdf. 

External links

• Otto Jelinek - Parliament of Canada biography