Original post-February 25, 2012
Repost September 19, 2022
This piece was originally posted on February 25, 2012, on RunBlogRun. Of all the interviews that I have done over the past 40 years, the one I am most proud of is with Emil Zatopek. I still cry when I think of what he went through in 1968 and how he showed his affection for the late Ron Clarke.
Today, September 19, 2022, is the Centenary of Emil Zatopek. All over the Czech Republic, celebrations went on about the finest Olympic distance runner in history, the man who won the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon, something never repeated, at the same Olympics where his lovely wife took gold in the javelin.
Emil Zatopek was larger than life. The winner of the Olympic gold medal in 1948 ( London), and the silver in the 5,000m (he missed the gold by less than a yard with his insane last lap, running down a 50-plus meter lead by Gaston Reiff).
In 1952, Emil Zatopek won the gold in the 10,000 meters, came back and won a tough 5,000m, where he did not regain the lead until 180 meters to go. After golds in the 5,000m and 10,000m, Zatopek also won the marathon, on his first try, taking the lead after 25k and never looking back. Some interesting trivia, in all four Olympic track medals, Alain Mimoun of France finished right behind him.
In 1956, six weeks after hernia surgery (he had done 300-meter intervals holding his wife, Daniella, on his back), he finished sixth place. Waiting in the line for Emil was his dear friend and competitor, Alain Mimoun.
In 1991, when Emil spent a few days at Stanford, he traveled to Carmel with Joe Mangan and me. I taped six hours of tapes from that day.
He told us about Vladimir Kuts, who he liked, and he told us about Alain Mimoun, who waited at the finish for him in the 1956 marathon, telling his Czech friend that he had become a father just before the race (I have heard that this story is not true, well, in 1991, to Emil Zatopek, it was true).
What is not clearly known is how terribly the Soviets treated Emil after 1968. Zatopek, while a Communist, was a nationalist. He supported the Spring Revolt and the Dubjek government, who stood up to the Soviets. A student revolt, led by the late Vaclav Havel, then, a college professor, was also part of the story. Zatopek was thrown in jail, and treated so severely by the Soviet captors, that he damaged his back and legs, never to run again.
As he told…
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