Emil Zátopek (1922–2000) was a Czech Athlete and middle-distance runner. Nicknamed the “Czech Locomotive,” he is considered one of the greatest long-distance runners in the sport’s history. During his career, he set 18 world records.
Born in Koprivnice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic, Zátopek began running while working in the Bata shoe factory in Zlín.
After numerous victories in Czechoslovak track events, he won the gold medal for the 10,000 meters at the 1948 London Olympics. For the next six years, notwithstanding a surprisingly strenuous running style, he proved himself the excellent long-distance runner of his time, breaking 13 world records. In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he achieved a remarkable golden treble: he retained his gold medal in the 10,000 meters and won the 5,000 meters and the marathon.
Zátopek’s wife and fellow athlete Dana Ingrova Zátopek, née Ingrová, won the gold medal for the javelin in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Zátopek retired as a runner in 1955. Considered a hero in Czechoslovakia, he was an influential figure in the Communist Party. Critical of the Soviet Union’s 1968 takeover of Czechoslovakia, he was deprived of his colonelcy in the Czech army and his Communist Party membership in 1969.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Emil Zatopek
We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.
—Emil Zatopek
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