{{Short description|Czechoslovak sports scientist and athlete}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Ladislav Pataki | image = | fullname = | birth_date = {{birth date text|June 20, 1946}} | birth_place = [[Nové Zámky]], [[Czechoslovakia]] | death_date = {{d-da|April 5, 2007|June 20, 1946}} | death_place = [[San Jose, California]], [[United States]] | sport = [[shot put]], [[discus throw|discus]] | team = Czechoslovak National Team | height = | weight = | pb = '''[[masters (athletics)|Masters]] [[Track and field|Track and Field]]''' <br> '''Outdoor Weight Pentathlon:''' 5366 points <br> (Masters World Record July 12, 2001) <br> '''Discus:''' 52.68 meters (1st place) <br> '''Shot put:''' 15.85 meters (1st place) <br> (Masters World Championship <br> [[Brisbane, Australia]], July 6–12, 2001) <br> '''Indoor Shot put:''' 16.04 meters <br> ([[masters (athletics)|Masters]] World Record February 17, 1998 <br> Silver State Indoor Masters Classic, [[Reno, Nevada]]) | years_active = Junior: –1964<br> Masters: c. 1997 – c. 2003 | updated = April 13, 2007 }} '''Ladislav Pataki''' (June 20, 1946 – April 5, 2007) was an American coach, [[sports scientist]], and masters track and field thrower. He defected from [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1985 with his wife and daughter, settling in [[Los Gatos, California]].
Dr. Pataki served as SyberVision System's Director of Advanced Sport Science upon his arrival in 1985 to 1990.
In this tenure he established and integrated the Stanford University/SyberVision-developed film-to-brain sport training technology into the USA Olympic elite athlete training program in Colorado Springs, CO.
After SyberVision he influenced the training of several world-class athletes living in the [[South Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)|South Bay Area]], where he continued his sports science career and developed nutritional supplements. As a [[masters (athletics)|masters]] competitor in track and field, he won several world championships and set world records in shot put and discus.<ref>[[Robert McG. Thomas|Robert McG. Thomas Jr.]] (June 23, 1986). [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_states_olympic_committee/index.html?query=PATAKI,%20LADISLAV&field=per&match=exact "SPORTS WORLD SPECIALS; Imagery in Motion:], ''New York Times'', accessed April 11, 2007. When Ladislav Pataki sneaked out of a Rome hotel with his wife and daughter last July and sought asylum at the United States Embassy, the move boded well for American athletics. Pataki, a former discus and hammer-throw coach who, as a biomechanical specialist, had been coordinator of a Czechoslovak training-research project, was the highest-ranking Soviet-bloc sports scientist ever to defect to the West."</ref>
He had surgery for brain cancer in the Czech Republic in 2006, after declining chemotherapy. When the tumor could not be completely removed, he entered an assisted living residence in [[San Jose, California]].<ref>[https://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5216700 Elliott Almond, ''San Jose Mercury News,'' "Ladislav Pataki has brain cancer: A Valley Fixture Since Defection," February 13, 2007], accessed April 11, 2007</ref> He died at age 60.
==Early life and education== Pataki grew up in [[Nové Zámky]], in the former [[Soviet-bloc]] state of [[Czechoslovakia]].<ref>[https://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_5635404 Elliott Almond, ''San Jose Mercury News,'' "Renowned throwing specialist Pataki to be memorialized," April 10, 2007], accessed April 11, 2007</ref> Nové Zámky is located in the [[Nitra Region]] in the southwest of modern [[Slovakia]]. According to his resumes, Pataki was the 1964 Czechoslovak Junior Champion and record holder in shot put. After competing in sports internationally as a youth, he earned two [[Doctorate]] of Research degrees from [[Comenius University in Bratislava]], with a 1971 thesis in [[kinesiology]] and a 1977 thesis in [[sport science]].<ref>[http://www.powerlean.com/Brochures/DrPataki.html "Who is Ladislav Pataki?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126110632/http://www.powerlean.com/Brochures/DrPataki.html |date=2008-01-26 }} (resume with links to a longer autobiography), accessed April 12, 2007</ref>
==Sports science career== After completing his first doctorate, he started his career in 1972 as head coach for discus throwing of the Czechoslovak National Team. He held progressively responsible positions in Czechoslovakia until his defection in 1985.<ref>[http://www.aminolabs.net/resume-pataki.html Resume, Ladislav Pataki, Phd., C.Sc.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907195226/http://www.aminolabs.net/resume-pataki.html |date=2005-09-07 }}, accessed April 11, 2007</ref>
In the U.S., Pataki joined SyberVision Systems as its director of Advanced Sport Science.
He successfully introduced the Stanford University/SyberVision film-to-brain elite athlete training program into the USA Olympic training regimen at Colorado Springs, CO.
Dr. Pataki, the highest ranking sport scientist to defect from the Soviet Union, believed the SyberVision methodology (the ability to capture pure athletic skills on video and edit them in such a way that the viewer's body and "muscle memory" responded as if the viewer was physically performing the repetitive skill/action presented on the video) was more advanced and effective than the elite athlete training methodology used in the Soviet Union.
After SyberVision, in 1990 he continued his sports science career influencing the training of a group of world-class throwers who were competing in [[shot put]], [[discus throw|discus]], and [[hammer throw]]. The concentration of strength-event athletes became known as "Weight City." (Nearby [[San Jose State University]] had been nicknamed Speed City during its period of track and field success in the 1960s.)<ref>[http://www.speedcityera.com/index.html The Speed City Era] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612043413/http://www.speedcityera.com/index.html |date=2007-06-12 }}, accessed April 12, 2007</ref> He also began a business career developing marketing nutritional supplements.
In 2006, Pataki helped develop a [[nanotechnology]]-based skin care product at AmerElite Solutions, where he was the director of research and development.<ref>[http://losgatosobserver.com/los-gatos/Article.php?article_id=0273 Alastair Dallas, ''Los Gatos Observer,'' "Ladislav Pataki (1946-2007): Cold War defector came to Los Gatos," April 11, 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006173103/http://losgatosobserver.com/los-gatos/Article.php?article_id=0273 |date=October 6, 2007 }}, accessed April 11, 2007</ref>
==Masters competition== Pataki won world championships and set several records as a [[masters athletics (track and field)]] competitor in [[shot put]], [[discus throw|discus]], and weight pentathlon.<ref>[http://www.powerlean.com/VAVA2001/Pataki2001.html Results of 2001 Masters Track & Field World Championships, Brisbane, Australia], accessed at Pataki's PowerLean site April 12, 2007</ref>
==Notes== <references/>
==External links== * [http://www.powerlean.com/ NutrLife/PowerLean] – Pataki's nutritional supplements company * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131230/http://www.drpataki.com/Clinic/Clinic.html Dr. Pataki's clinic page] – descriptions and photos of his shot put technique and training methods
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pataki, Ladislav}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:2007 deaths]] [[Category:People from Nové Zámky]] [[Category:Sportspeople from the Nitra Region]] [[Category:Czechoslovak men shot putters]] [[Category:Slovak men shot putters]] [[Category:Sports scientists]] [[Category:Czechoslovak defectors]] [[Category:American track and field coaches]] [[Category:Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:Slovak masters athletes]] [[Category:Defectors to the United States]] [[Category:World record holders in masters athletics]] [[Category:Academic staff of Comenius University]] [[Category:Czechoslovak men discus throwers]] [[Category:Slovak men discus throwers]] [[Category:Slovak people of Hungarian descent]]