At the end of the Olympic Games she also found success in the diplomatic realm when she was elected to be a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – an achievement that the Slovak Olympic Committee President František Chmelár said was equal to winning “four or five gold medals”.

“I want to concentrate on public diplomacy,” he said. “We have to explain to people in Republika Srpska that NATO is not a military organisation, NATO is a civil organisation. Ambassadors in NATO are creating decisions, not soldiers. The military is only a part of NATO.”

Alena Adamkova, the Executive Director of the International Roerich Memorial Trust, has been decorated with the Russian order of Friendship for her contribution into the development of the Russian-Indian cultural ties. Slovakian Adamkova, who is a specialist in Indian Studies, lived for many years in the USSR and India.

Amid all the furor stirred by the French government’s decision to repatriate hundreds of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma, many would be surprised to learn that Sarkozy is a pretty popular name among the Roma communities in Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. No, not French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but the name Sarkozy -- or rather Sárközy.

Within the framework of public diplomacy over 60 students from Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Lithuania visited the MFA on 26 July.