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All three Olympians are members of the UNIS programme, through which the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports supports gifted university students. 

Runner Tereza Hrochová from the Faculty of Law was nominated for the Olympic Games after her first marathon. The Škoda Plzeň athlete holds two national titles in the half- marathon and won the championship in cross-country and hill running. At the Olympics, she was surprised by sudden health problems, yet she completed the marathon and finished in 58th place in 2:42:45. Already in 2018, the Rector granted Tereza Hrochová an extraordinary scholarship for excellent sports results. In addition to sports achievements, the former student of the bachelor programme Legal Specialization can boast of already completed studies in the master programme Law and Legal Science.

Thanks to Marie Horáčková, a student of Physical Education and Sport at the Faculty of Education, Czech archery was represented at the Olympics after thirteen years. Although she has not gone through the selection process, she is satisfied with her Olympic premiere and wants to participate in the Paris Olympics in three years. Marie won a number of championships at the national level and was successful in European and world competitions. Four years ago, the Rector granted her an extraordinary scholarship for winning gold medals at the Czech Indoor Junior Championships and the Czech Women's Championships.

Vendula Dušková, a student of Occupational Therapy at the Faculty of Health Care Studies, who is partially confined to a wheelchair, is one of the best Czech paralympians. The silver medallist from the 2018 European Championships left for Tokyo with Olympic experience from Rio de Janeiro and was successful –  she made it to the finals in all three swimming disciplines she entered.  She swam a personal best of 3:06.56 in the qualification round of the 200-metre medley race and was eighth in the final. In the 400-metre freestyle race she gained the sixth place and in the 100-metre breaststroke the seventh.      

"Combining studies and top-level sport is not always easy and it definitely requires a lot of discipline. I appreciate that we have such talented people at our University who give excellent sports performances and study successfully, and show us that it is good to think about our distant future," says Rector Miroslav Holeček. "The UNIS programme of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is a support for students, thanks to which they can devote their time to their studies and the development of their sports talent," adds the Rector. 

The UNIS Programme was launched by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in cooperation with the sports centre VICTORIA VSC in 2020 to support the dual careers of university athletes. "We want to create conditions for successful and promising athletes so that they can meet demanding study requirements and at the same time be able to devote themselves to sports training and participate in competitions," explains Lenka Kovářová, Director of VICTORIA VSC.

UNIS provides support through the scholarship programme of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports which is administered by VICTORIA VSC. The second part of the funds goes to universities within the non-investment subsidy programme of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, which is intended for coordination and service support of selected students. Therefore, students can enjoy many services in various fields, such as in sports medicine, psychology, nutritional counselling, and rehabilitation. At the University of West Bohemia, in addition to these services, athletes can enjoy physiotherapy services, which are funded by the city of Pilsen. 

The project sets out five performance categories –  from A, with a monthly scholarship of CZK 15,000, to E, with a scholarship of CZK 5,000. Scholarships are not guaranteed for the entire period of study; students must defend their eligibility each season. There are currently 21 students of the University of West Bohemia in the programme. Thanks to their outstanding performances, they meet the quotas for being classified into the two highest categories. "The triple nomination for the Olympics proves that the UNIS programme is on the right track. It allows students to focus on study and sports, which has a positive effect on their performance," declares Václav Salcman from the Centre for Physical Education and Sport of the Faculty of Education, which coordinates the UNIS project at UWB.