Martina Navratilova was born in 1956, in which country ?

The iconic tennis star began her life in Prague in 1956, in a nation that no longer exists on modern maps. At the time of her birth, Prague was the capital of Czechoslovakia, a country formed after World War I. Navratilova grew up behind the Iron Curtain, honing her tennis skills under a communist regime that placed significant restrictions on its citizens' travel and personal freedoms.

Her relationship with her birth country is a major part of her life story. In 1975, at just 18 years old, she made the dramatic decision to defect to the United States while competing in the US Open. Seeking the freedom to pursue her career without political interference, she requested political asylum and was stripped of her Czechoslovak citizenship. She officially became a U.S. citizen in 1981 and went on to have one of the most dominant careers in sports history.

Years later, following the peaceful 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended communist rule, the country itself underwent a major change. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into two independent nations: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Navratilova had her Czech citizenship restored in 2008, reconnecting her with the homeland (Review) she had to leave decades earlier.