{{Short description|Austrian pentathlete (1941–2006)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Liese Prokop |image = Liese Prokop Wien.jpg |image_size = 200px |caption = Foto: June, 2006 |order = Minister of the Interior |president = Heinz Fischer |chancellor = Wolfgang Schüssel |term_start = 22 December 2004 |term_end = 31 December 2006 |predecessor = Ernst Strasser |successor = Wolfgang Schüssel {{small|(Acting)}} |birth_date = {{birth date|1941|3|27|df=y}} |birth_place = Tulln District, Ostmark, Nazi Germany |death_date = {{death date and age|2006|12|31|1941|3|27|df=y}} |death_place = Sankt Pölten, Austria |party = People's Party |alma_mater = University of Vienna }} {{MedalTableTop}} {{MedalCountry | {{AUT}} }} {{MedalSport | Women's Athletics}} {{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}} {{MedalSilver| 1968 Mexico City|Pentathlon}} {{MedalCompetition|European Championships}} {{MedalGold | 1969 Athens|Pentathlon}} {{MedalCompetition|Universiade}} {{MedalGold| 1967 Tokyo|Pentathlon}} {{MedalBottom}} '''Liesel''' "'''Liese'''" '''Prokop-Sykora''' (27 March 1941 – 31 December 2006) was an Austrian athlete and, later in her life, a politician. She competed mainly in the pentathlon.
==Biography== Born as '''Liese Sykora''' in Tulln District, Lower Austria, on 27 March 1941, she graduated from the University of Vienna with a degree in biology and sport.<ref name=iaaf>{{cite web|title=Olympic silver medalist Prokop dies at 65|url=http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/olympic-silver-medallist-prokop-dies-at-65|work=IAAF Athletics|accessdate=20 October 2013}}</ref><ref name=mm>{{cite web|title=Interior Minister Liese Prokop|url=http://en.mauthausen-memorial.at/db/admin/de/index_main.php?cbereich=4&cthema=269&carticle=657&fromlist=1|work=Mauthausen Memorial|accessdate=20 October 2013}}</ref> In 1965 she married her former coach, Gunnar Prokop. The couple had two sons and a daughter.<ref name=mm/> in 1967, she became student world champion in Tokyo.<ref name=mm/> She competed for Austria in the 1968 Summer Olympics held in Mexico City, Mexico in the Pentathlon where she won the silver medal.<ref name=usap/> In 1969, she became European champion in Athens, breaking the world pentathlon record.<ref name=mm/> In addition, she was Austrian champion in pentathlon, long jump, high jump, hurdles, relay and shot putting.<ref name=mm/>
Prokop began her political career in 1969 and became a member of the Parliament of Lower Austria.<ref name=aer/> She served as regional minister from 1981 to 1992 and vice president of Lower Austria during the period between 1992 and 2004.<ref name=aer/>
She joined Assembly of European Regions (AER) in 1996 and held different administrative positions in the AER, including the president of the AER which she assumed from 2001 to 2004.<ref name=aer>{{cite web|title=Liese Prokop, AER Honorary President, dies at age 65 |url=http://www.aer.eu/news/2007/2007010201.html |work=Assembly of European Regions |accessdate=20 October 2013 |date=2 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510000519/http://www.aer.eu/news/2007/2007010201.html |archivedate=10 May 2013 }}</ref> Later she was made honorary president of the assembly.<ref name=aer/>
Beginning in December 2004 she was Austrian minister of interior for the conservative ÖVP, becoming Austria's first female interior minister.<ref name=usap>{{cite news|title=Austrian Interior Minister Liese Prokop, a former Olympian, dead at 65|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/2007-01-01-%20austria-obit_x.htm|accessdate=20 October 2013|newspaper=USA Today|date=1 January 2007|agency=AP|location=Vienna}}</ref><ref name=wpost>{{cite news|title=Obituaries in the News|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100216_2.html|accessdate=20 October 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=1 January 2007|agency=AP|location=Vienna}}</ref> She served in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Wolfgang Schüssel until her death on 31 December 2006.<ref name=usap/> She died unexpectedly of aortic dissection while being rushed to a Sankt Pölten hospital on New Year's Eve, 2006.<ref name=usap/> Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel became acting interior minister upon this incident.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel|url=http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-47273EC8-84199DC3/bst_engl/hs.xsl/9914_52183.htm|work=Bertelsmann Stiftung|accessdate=20 October 2013}}</ref>
She was the sister of Maria Sykora, who competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics,<ref name=iaaf/> and aunt of Winter Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Sykora. Her daughter, Karin Prokop is a professional handball player and politician.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box|before= Ernst Strasser|title=Interior Minister of Austria|years=2004{{spaced ndash}}2006|after= Günther Platter}} {{s-end}}
{{Austrian Sportsperson of the Year}} {{Footer European Champions Pentathlon Women}} {{Footer Universiade Champions Heptathlon Women}} {{Interior Ministers of Austria}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prokop, Liese}} Category:1941 births Category:2006 deaths Category:University of Vienna alumni Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Category:Austrian pentathletes Category:Austrian women athletes Category:Olympic athletes for Austria Category:Olympic silver medalists for Austria Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:Austrian sportsperson-politicians Category:Austrian People's Party politicians Category:Ministers of the interior of Austria Category:Deaths from aortic dissection Category:Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic silver medalists in athletics Category:Women government ministers of Austria Category:Female interior ministers Category:Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for Austria Category:20th-century Austrian women politicians Category:20th-century Austrian politicians Category:21st-century Austrian women politicians Category:21st-century Austrian politicians Category:Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Category:Assembly of European Regions Category:Austrian Athletics Championships winners