Emil Zátopek

Emil Zátopek

Emil Zátopek in 1951
Personal information
Born	19 September 1922 Kopřivnice, Czechoslovakia
Died	22 November 2000(2000-11-22) (aged 78) Prague, Czech Republic
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
Sport	Long-distance running
Club	TJ Gottwaldov, Zlín Dukla Praha
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	5000 metres: 13:57.0 10,000 metres: 28:54.2 Marathon: 2:23:04
Medal record Representing  Czechoslovakia Olympic Games 1948 London 5,000 m 1948 London 10,000 m 1952 Helsinki 5,000 m 1952 Helsinki 10,000 m 1952 Helsinki Marathon Pierre de Coubertin medal 2000 European Athletics Championships 1950 Brussels 5,000 m 1950 Brussels 10,000 m 1954 Bern 10,000 m 1954 Bern 5,000 m

Emil Zátopek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɛmɪl ˈzaːtopɛk]; 19 September 1922 – 22 November 2000) was a Czechoslovak long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life. He was nicknamed the "Czech Locomotive".

Zátopek was the first runner to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10,000 metres (in 1954). Three years earlier, in 1951, he had broken the hour for running 20 km. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest runners of the 20th century and was also known for his brutally tough training methods. He was the instigator of interval training and hypoventilation training. In February 2013, the editors at Runner's World Magazine selected him as the Greatest Runner of All Time. He is the only person to win the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon in the same Olympics.

Zátopek was the sixth child in a modest family. Aged 16, he began working in a Bata shoe factory in Zlín. Zátopek says that "One day, the factory sports coach, who was very strict, pointed at four boys, including me, and ordered us to run in a race. I protested that I was weak and not fit to run, but the coach sent me for a physical examination, and the doctor said that I was perfectly well. So I had to run, and when I got started, I felt I wanted to win. But I only came in second. That was the way it started." Zátopek finished second out of the field of 100. After that point, he began to take a serious interest in running. He joined the local athletic club, where he developed his own training program, modelled on what he had read about the great Finnish Olympian Paavo Nurmi.