Emil Zátopek

Czech long distance runner, olympic legend Emil Zátopek Czech long distance runner, olympic legend Nickname the "Czech Locomotive" for his multiple golds The only long-distance athlete , who win three gold medals at a single Games Till his nineteen years he didn´t run any race and he didn´t train the running September 19, 1922 – November 22, 2000

Early years Emil Zátopek was born in 1922 in Kopřivnice. His father worked like a joiner in Tatra. He had six brothers and sisters. He was the fastest boy in the class and he ran for the teacher snack at the break. He played football, too. After the primary school he went to the secondary chemistry school to Zlín. Then he worked in Baťa factory. It is incredible, but till his nineteen he didn´t run any race and he didn´t train the running. The Only chance of starting his sports career was in the last year of studying, when he got his new PE teacher, who was very strict. All boys had to run in Sunday´s running around Zlín. But Zátopek didn´t want to run. He said, that he couldn´t run, because his knee was sick. But the teacher took him to the doctor and the doctor said, that he was healthy. The teacher was very angry and said, that he was just lazy. The next day he ran very fast and he was the second from more than 100 runners.

Competitions After his first race, he was stopped by Tomáš Šalé, who looked for the talents in this race. Emil started with training and Tomáš became his first coach. Zátopek first entered the international athletics field at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, winning the 10 km (his second race at that distance) and finishing as second behind Gaston Reiff from Belgium in the 5 km race. The following year Zátopek broke the 10 km world record twice, and went on to improve his own record three times over the next four seasons. He also set records in the 5 km, 20 km, one-hour run, 25 km and 30 km races. He won the 5 km and 10 km races at the 1950 European Championship and the 10 km race at the next European Championships.

Helsinki 1952 At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Zátopek won gold in the 5 km run, 10 km run and the marathon. He also broke the existing Olympic record in each of the three events. Probably the hardest run was marathon, because it was the third run in 8 days and it was the first time he had run the 26-mile marathon.

Golden couple To add to the glory of Zatopek's golden games in Helsinki, his wife Dana won the javelin throw event shortly after he took the 5,000 meters and they became the first husband and wife, who won Olympic gold medals on the same day. The couple, born on the same day, had married on their common birthday in 1948. Zatopek was unable to repeat his Helsinki triumphs at the Melbourne Olympics of 1956, because two months ago he underwent operation of rupture. He continued to run into his 60's but in his mid-70's he finally began to slow down.

Glory Zatopek's reputation and popularity was so important that he attended all subsequent Olympics as a guest of honour up to the 1984 Los Angeles Games which were boycotted by the Soviet bloc. Over the past year he was hospitalised several times, once after breaking a hip, another time for pneumonia just before the stroke that ended the career of his country's greatest athlete. Olympic Games Gold 1948 London 10000 metres 1952 Helsinki 5000 metres Marathon Silver Pierre de Coubertin medal 2000 European Championships 1950 Brussels 5000 m 10000 m 1954 Bern Bronze

Grave of Emil Zátopek in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm

Emil Zatopek - Adidas commercial on youtube.com

The End Jaroslav Seifrt, 2011 http://www.rediff.cm/sports/2000/nov/22zato1.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Z%C3%A1topek http://zivotopisyonline.cz/emil-zatopek-1991922-22112000-nejvetsi-z-nasich-olympioniku/ http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/romance-passion/great-lovers-a-celebration-of-true-romance-1895508.html?action=Gallery&ino=31 Jaroslav Seifrt, 2011