The Greatest Runner the World Has Seen.

The Greatest Runner the World Has Seen. In the 1952 Olympic Games, Czechoslovakian athlete Emil Zátopek won the 5000 m, 10,000 m, and marathon races in Olympic record time, running in his typical pained-looking, lurching fashion. Amazingly, Zátopek had never previously run in a marathon race. After his victory, he declared the marathon to be "a very boring race." . "The Greatest Runner the World Has Seen" The crowd of 70,000 stood up to cheer as Czech runner Emil Zátopek entered the stadium in Helsinki, Finland to complete the marathon at the 1952 Olympic Games. They knew that they were witnessing an almost superhuman feat of distance running: Having won gold medals in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters, Zátopek was running to a dominating victory in the marathon, the final event on the Olympic program. The peerless Zátopek finished in 2 hours 23 minutes 3.2 seconds--a half mile ahead of his nearest competitor and more than 6 minutes faster than the fastest previous Olympic marathon. Until the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Zátopek was the only man in history to win the three long-distance races in a single Olympic Games. Zátopek competed with an awkward running style. Track-and-field lore had it that Zátopek had continued training throughout his service in the Czech Army in World War II (1939-1945) by running 16 km (10 mi) each morning in combat boots. Perhaps because of this, he ran with his head thrown back and his face contorted, and his body lurched to the left with each stride. A sportswriter of the time observed that Zátopek "ran as if tortured by internal demons." His ungainly running motion concealed an efficient pair of lungs and a fierce determination to excel. At the 1948 Olympics in London, England, Zátopek won the 10,000 meters in Olympic-record time, and in the 5000 he earned a silver medal, finishing less than a second behind Belgian Gaston Rieff. "The Beast of Prague," as Zátopek was nicknamed in the press, had established himself as one of the top distance runners of the postwar era. Still, the sports world was unprepared for the show he put on in Helsinki. First he destroyed the 32-man field in the 10,000 meters, taking the lead after ten laps and winning in 29 minutes 17.0 seconds--breaking his own Olympic record by more than 42 seconds. Three days later Zátopek competed in the 5000-meter race. The talented field included the favorite, Herbert Schade of Germany; Alain Mimoun of France, who had finished second to Zátopek in the 10,000; and Chris Chataway and Gordon Pirie of Great Britain. Those four runners, along with Zátopek, formed the lead pack throughout the race, trading off the lead position. Zátopek took the lead with one lap to go but was quickly passed on the backstretch by Chataway, Mimoun, and Schade. The gaunt Czech with the tortured running style dropped to fourth, seemingly out of medal contention. But in the last 200 meters, Chataway, the leader, fell in the final turn as Schade passed him. Swinging wide, Zátopek struggled past Schade with Mimoun on his heels. He won by 5 yards over the Frenchman. Again he set an Olympic record: 14 minutes 6.6 seconds. Not since 1912 had one runner captured the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters in the same Olympics. But Zátopek was not through. Zátopek had never before competed in a marathon. He was running on only three days of rest after his 5000-meter victory. He had little understanding of marathon strategy, so his plan for the race was simple: Find the favorite, Jim Peters of Great Britain, and stay close to him. Zátopek shadowed Peters for the first 16 km (10 mi) before taking the lead. Beset by cramps, Peters dropped out at 32 km (20 mi). The Czech ran alone through the streets of Helsinki, his anguished expression belying the ease with which he coasted to victory. Scowling all the way, Zátopek completed the marathon before any of the other runners had even entered the Olympic Stadium. "The practically unanimous consensus here," wrote the New York Times, "is that Zátopek is the greatest runner the world has seen." Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.