Czechoslovak defectors

Martina Hingis (born Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world No. 1 and 90 weeks as doubles world No. 1, holding both No. 1 rankings simultaneously for 29 weeks. She won 5 Grand Slam singles titles, 13 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, winning a calendar-year doubles Grand Slam in 1998, and 7 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles; for a combined total of 25 major titles. In addition, she won the season-ending WTA Finals two times in singles and three times in doubles, an Olympic silver medal, and a record 17 Tier I singles titles.

Martina Navratilova (Czech: Martina Navrátilová born Martina Šubertová October 18, 1956) is a Czechoslovak-born American former professional tennis player and coach. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1975 through 2005 and she is considered one of the best female tennis players of all time.

Ivan Lendl (born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 270 weeks (fourth-most of all time), and finished as the year-end No. 1 four times. Lendl won 94 career singles titles, including eight majors (three each at the French Open and US Open, and two at the Australian Open) and seven year-end championships. He was runner-up at a further eleven majors and contested a record eight consecutive US Open finals.

Petr Nedvěd (born December 9, 1971) is a Czech Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Most recently he played centre for HC Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga.

Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame (1997), Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame (2002), Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2008) and was named into the IIHF All-Time Czech Team (2020).

Adolf Scherer (5 May 1938 – 22 July 2023) was a Slovak footballer who played as a striker. He is of Carpathian German descent. He played 36 games and scored 22 goals for the Czechoslovakia national team. Scherer represented Czechoslovakia at the 1960 European Nations' Cup and 1958 FIFA World Cup, where he did not play any match.

Peter Šťastný (born 18 September 1956), also known colloquially as "Peter the Great" and "Stosh", is a Slovakian-Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. Šťastný is the second-highest scorer of the 1980s, after Wayne Gretzky. During his time with the Quebec Nordiques, Šťastný became a Canadian citizen. From 2004 to 2014, he served as a Member of the European Parliament for Slovakia. During his NHL career, he played with the Quebec Nordiques, New Jersey Devils, and St. Louis Blues.

František Musil (born December 17, 1964), more commonly known in North America as Frank Musil, is a retired professional ice hockey player who spent several seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Minnesota North Stars, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, and Edmonton Oilers. Musil is currently an amateur scout for the Oilers and assistant coach for the Czech national ice hockey team.

Rafael Jeroným Kubelík, KBE (29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech-born conductor and composer.

Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as Born to Win (1971), Cutter's Way (1981) and Stalin (1992).