Emil Zátopek was a Czech long-distance runner, a triple Olympic champion from Helsinki 1952 and the holder of 18 world records.[1]
Emil Zátopek was a Czech long-distance runner, born in Kopřivnice. At the Olympic Games he won four gold medals and one silver medal in total, and during his career he broke 18 world records.[1]
Sporting career
He came to athletics during his studies in Zlín, where an educator entered him in a traditional race. Zátopek finished second and then joined the athletics club in Zlín.[1]
In 1944 he broke a Czechoslovak record for the first time. Two years later, at the European Championships in Oslo, in his debut at a major international event, he placed fifth over 5000 metres.[1]
At the 1948 Olympic Games in London he won the 10 kilometres and took silver over the shorter distance, finishing less than a metre behind the winner, the Belgian Reiff, at the end of the race.[1]
At the 1950 European Championships in Brussels he won both of his races. At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki he defended his title over 10 kilometres, won the 5000 metres as well and finally also won the marathon, although he had never run it before. He took all three victories within eight days and improved the Olympic record in each of the events.[1]
At the 1954 European Championships in Bern he won gold in the 10 000 metres and bronze in the 5000 metres. At his last Olympic Games, Melbourne 1956, he finished sixth in the marathon, even though he had undergone a hernia operation before the Games. He ended his competitive career in 1958.[1]
Style and training methods
Zátopek adapted his training to his own ideas, devised new methods and ran large training loads. He concentrated mainly on the five-kilometre distance; after the Second World War he added the ten-kilometre distance, in which he then ranked among the best in the world for seven years. In races he was known for the tormented expression on his face, and according to the source thinning hair also characterised him as a runner. He received the nickname Locomotive for his running style.[1]
Political fortunes
As a professional soldier, he was placed in several political posts by the communist regime after the end of his career. In 1968 he was among the best-known supporters of the ideas of the Prague Spring. During the period of normalisation he was removed from all positions for these views, dismissed from the army and had to work as an auxiliary labourer. Later he withdrew his anti-regime views and worked until retirement in the documentation centre of the Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education.[1]
Awards and legacy
In 1975 the International Fair Play Committee at UNESCO awarded him the Pierre de Coubertin Medal, as the first Czechoslovak sportsman. After 1989 he was rehabilitated. On the occasion of the centenary of Czech athletics he was proclaimed the national athlete of the century and afterwards also the Olympian of the century. He died in November 2000 at the age of 78. In 2012 he was among the first twelve personalities inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Association of Athletics Federations.[1]
Marriage
According to the source, together with his wife Dana Zátopková, an Olympic champion and world record holder in the javelin throw, he formed one of the most famous sporting couples.[1]
Olympic results
London 1948: 1st place in the 10 000 m, 2nd place in the 5000 m. Helsinki 1952: 1st place in the 10 000 m, 1st place in the 5000 m, 1st place in the marathon. Melbourne 1956: 6th place in the marathon.[1]