Who is Emil Zatopek

"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." --Emil Zatopek

Emil was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, on September 19, 1922. He was one of eight children, and had a modest yet pleasant childhood. At the age of 16 he took his first job, working at a shoe factory. This job was the source of all his future opportunities.

After being forced to run his first race, Emil took a liking to the sport and was noticed by the Czech national 1,500 meter record holder, and offered a spot with their training group. He trained with them for a year, and then set out on his own.

For five years, Emil only competed within Czechoslovakia. He gradually developed his own ideas about training, centered around "speed and stamina". Though he considered the training very primitive, it was revolutionary for his time. He would run repeats every day, 30 x 100m, for example, as hard as he could. His teammates thought he was crazy, until he started winning races.

His success was not due solely to new training methods, however. Emil was known for training unbelievably hard. He tested the limits of what an individual could handle, and trained with the motto that anything previous greats like Paavo Nurmi had done, he could do more.

At the war's end, Emil joined officer training and began competing in military meets. His first international competition was at the European Championships in Oslo, Norway. He ran the 5,000 meters and finished fifth in a time of 14:25.8.

Emil won his first international competition at the inter-Allied meet in Berlin in 1946. He credits this victory with inspiring him to train even harder. This included bounding through heavy snow in his military boots throughout the winter.

When he finally slipped on the running shoes again, he felt incredibly fast, and won his first 5,000 meter race of 1947 in a time of 14:08.2, the second fastest time ever. He then out-sprinted 10,000 meter world record holder Viljo Heino of Finland in a 5,000 meter race to win in 14:15.2. He also ran a 3,000 meter race in 8:08.8.

When Emil finished the 1947 season, he was undefeated and ranked first in the world at 5,000 meters. He took that motivation into yet another winter of slogging through snow in his military boots.

He entered the Olympic year in the best shape of his life. His first 10,000 meter race ever was run in Budapest in May, and he clocked a 30:28.4. Later in June, he ran 29:27 in Prague Stadium, just 1.6 seconds off of Heino's record. Emil thought up a plan to ensure victory against Heino.

The 1948 London Olympics

He had a friend in the stands hold up a white or red shirt, depending on the pace. If the 400 meter split was faster than world record pace, the friend held up the white shirt. If slower, the red shirt. When he saw the red shirt, he knew he had to run faster. He followed this strategy, surging after every "red shirt lap" and eventually broke Heino, who dropped out. Emil went on to win by 47 seconds over Alain Mimoun in an Olympic record time of 29:59.6. This was the first ever gold medal for Czechoslovakia.

Emil came back to run the 5,000 meter prelims the next day. He led the race with Eric Ahlden of Sweden, until Ahlden began sprinting home on the last lap. Emil could have qualified easily, but still attempted to sprint Ahlden down. He ran 14:31.6 in the prelim, more than 30 seconds faster than the winner of the other prelim race.

In the final two days later, Emil led the race for the first nine laps. With 1,500 meters to go, pre-race favorite Gaston Reiff took the lead and looked to have run away from everyone for good. Emil slipped to third, but with 300 meters to go, unleashed an incredible kick to start reeling in Reiff. At the last moment possible, Reiff looked back and saw Emil coming, and sprinted just fast enough to finish a step ahead and take the gold, with Emil settling for silver.

Sources: Wikipedia, Running with the Legends

"Men, today we die a little." --Emil Zatopek at the start of the Olympic Marathon

In the fall of 1948, Emil married Dana Ignevona, who had finished seventh in the javelin in London. He put in a hard winter of training and then set out to achieve his first world record. He got it on June 11 in Ostrava, running 29:28.2 for the 10,000 meters, on his own. Amazingly, he became the first non-Finn to hold the record since 1911!

Heino took back the record on September 1st, causing Emil to put in a brutal two weeks of training in pursuit of getting it back. His training included workouts like 40 x 400 meters with a 200 jog for rest, all out. He then rested a week and, on October 22, took back the record with a time of 29:21.2.

In 1950, Emil went to Finland and ran a 14:06 in Helsinki. He then went to Turku, the hometown of Paavo Nurmi, to run the 10,000 meters. He ran 29:02.6, breaking the world record by 18.6 seconds, and earned a standing ovation from the packed stadium.

Later that year, he ran the European Championships in Brussels and won both the 5,000 meters (14:03) and 10,000 meters (29:12) in the second fastest times ever for those events, despite recovering from food poisoning.

In 1951, Emil first started experimenting with longer distances. His main workout of that year was 20 x 200 meters, followed by 40 x 400 meters, then another 20 x 200 meters, all with 200 meter jog rest. Unfortunately, we don't know how fast he ran them because he never used a stopwatch. He just ran them as fast as he could.

On September 15, 1951, Emil set the world record in the 1-hour run by covering 19,558 meters. He also set the 20-kilometer record by running 1:01:15.8. He ran his second 10,000 meters in 30:10.8. This energized him to attempt to run 20-kilometers in under one hour, which he did later that year. He ran his first 10,000 meters in 29:53, and then came back in 29:58. When he pulled off this feat, only five other people had ever broken 30 minutes for 10,000 meters. Zatopek considered this to be his best race ever.

The 1952 Helsinki Olympics

The 10,000 meters came first. He was passed early by Gordon Pirie and Alain Mimoun. They went through 5,000 meters in 14:43 and it was just Emil and Mimoun. Emil sprinted in with a 64 second last lap to finish in 29:17, beating Mimoun by 15 seconds. It was an Olympic record.

In the prelims of the 5,000 meters the next day, Emil ran well within himself and ensured himself a spot in the finals. The final came on July 24. The field was strong enough that Emil was not the favorite. It included Christopher Chataway, Alain Mimoun, Gaston Reiff (Olympic champion in 1948), Gordon Pirie, and Herbert Schade (who set the Olympic record of 14:15.2 in the prelims).

In the final, Emil decided to wait until one lap to go before trying to break away. He didn't think he could run away from the competition, nor did he think he could out-sprint them in the last 100 meters. But his strategy didn't make the race easy. In fact, he found himself behind Chataway, Mimoun and Schade with 200 meters to go. He dug in and ran as hard as he could, passing all of the runners en route to winning his second gold in another Olympic record time (14:06.6). His last lap was 57.7 seconds, and the last 200 just 28.3 seconds.

On the same day as his 5,000 meter victory, his wife, Dana, won the Olympic javelin contest. She threw an Olympic record on her first attempt, and it was enough to claim victory.

Three days later, Emil went for his third gold medal in the Olympic marathon, a distance he had never run before. He was confident after his 20-kilometer run, but he was also racing Jim Peters of England, the first man to break 2:20 in the marathon.

At the 15-kilometer mark, Emil asked Peters if the pace was too fast. Peters responded jokingly that it was too slow, so Emil took off faster, actually dropping Peters for good. Only the Swedish runner Gustof Jannson stayed with Emil. At the turnaround point, and entering unchartered territory, Emil pushed the pace and dropped Jannson.

Despite mounting fatigue, Emil pushed on and eventually crossed the line in 2:23:03.2, his third gold medal and his third Olympic record. Argentinian Reinaldo Gorno took second, and Jannson third.

In great shape, Emil decided to end his season by pursuing more world records. He ran the 30-kilometers on October 26, setting the world record, as well as setting numerous records en route. His records included 1:16:26.4 for 15 miles, 1:19:11.8 for 25 kilometers, and 1:35:23.8 for 30-kilometers.

Sources: Wikipedia, Running with the Legends

"Many of my rivals stay in contact. If Gaston Reiff had a chance to visit Czechoslovakia, always he visited our house. If I go to Paris, always I visit the house of Alain Mimoun. What this is teaching is to esteem adversaries, to esteem the quality of the sporting fellowship." --Emil Zatopek

On November 1, 1953, Emil broke his 10,000 meter record by running 29:01.6. He passed by six miles in 28:08.4, which was also a new world record.

In 1954, he took aim at Gunder Haag's 5,000 meter record of 13:58. In his training, he ran workouts as long as 100 x 400 meters with 150 jog recovery. He would do 50 times in the morning and 50 times in the afternoon, every day for two weeks (over 30 miles a day). He then recovered for one week and went to Paris, where he ran 13:57.2, one second faster than the world record.

The very next day he became the first man to break 29 minutes for the 10,000 meters, running 28:54.2 in Brussels. His splits were 14:27.4/14:26.8. In the 1954 European Championships, Emil dominated the 10,000 meters in a time of 28:58, but finished third in the 5,000 meters behind Vladimir Kuts and Chris Chataway. Kuts broke the world record in that race, running 13:56.6.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Emil tried some new training methods in order to keep up with the younger runners, one of which was running with his wife on his shoulders. Unfortunately, he gave himself a hernia and lost two months of training. Though ordered not to run by the doctors, he still competed in the Melbourne Olympics. Unfortunately, however, he did not compete against Kuts in the 5,000 or 10,000, which Kuts won handily.

In the marathon, Alain Mimoun again stayed behind Emil as was his wont, but Emil told him he was in bad shape and encouraged him to run ahead. Mimoun did, and ended up winning Olympic gold. Emil finished in sixth place.

Emil competed for one more year after the Olympics. He returned to good shape, and won a cross country race in Spain, but decided to retire. He took a position at his military sports club teaching and coaching. He was famous and well-respected throughout Czechoslovakia.

Life after running

In the Prague Spring of 1968, the Czech people challenged Soviet rule and Emil and Dana signed a document known as the "Manifesto of 2000 words", which argued for the Czech people's freedom from Soviet rule. The Soviets retaliated and Emil was one of the signers who suffered.

Emil was expelled from the Communist party, kicked out of the army, and eventually sent out to the countryside to the mines. Emil was forced to work until retirement age, which was 60. He practically disappeared from the western world, and yet he always argued that it wasn't so bad. He learned a lot from his experience.

After retirement, Emil remained persona non grata until the Czech people finally threw off their Soviet oppressors in 1989. After that he was finally able to speak and travel again. He lived a celebrity throughout Prague and his home was a site of pilgrimage for runners until his death in 2000 at the age of 78.

Sources: Wikipedia, Running with the Legends