The Czechs won gold in the 1998 Winter Olympics and three consecutive world championship gold medals from 1999 to 2001. The team did not win a medal in a global championship for the next three years, not even at home at the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in... Czech Republic has now won more than any other country. They are the most successful nation on the ice, having taken part in more world championships (18) than any other country. Their best result was in 1998 when they took home the gold medal. Czechoslovakia had already proved its ice hockey prowess by winning the first ever Olympic gold medal at St. Moritz in 1928. But after the communist takeover in 1945, ice hockey became politically unacceptable and the sport was banned in Czechoslovakia until 1992 when it was allowed to be played again. However, it wasn't until the mid-1990s that the country's ice hockey team started to show real talent, with players such as Milan Michálek, Vladimir Murečan, and Jan Havlíček being highly regarded by the international community. These three players were key members of the national team that won the gold medal at Nagano Japan in 1998. Since then, the Czech Republic has been one of the top nations in ice hockey.