Jarmila Kratochvílová joined the athletics club only at the age of seventeen, but under the guidance of strict coach Miroslav Kváč, in 1974 she became the national champion in the 300 m for the first time and with other successes, she literally tore the bag apart. Over the next few years, she dominated the national scene with twenty more gold medals.

On the international collegiate scene, she won for the first time at the European Championships in Vienna in 1979, where she won silver, literally becoming a superstar in the 1980s. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, she won second place in the 400 meters, but the highlight of his career was the World Championships in Helsinki three years later. Here she won gold in the 400m, silver in the relay, but above all, with a time of 1:53.28, she set a new world record, still undefeated, in the eight. In 1981 and 1983, she was elected Czechoslovak sportswoman of the year.

However, she was not expected to win an Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles, her dream having been thwarted by the boycott of socialist bloc countries. The next Olympic Games were far away, the drop in motivation and subsequently the injuries were evident. Jarmila Kratochvílová ended her career in 1987. She then became an athletics coach in Čáslav, where she still works today.