The Greatest Runner You’ve Never Heard Of
Zátopek was known as the ‘Czech Locomotive’ because of his conspicuous wheezing and groaning.
Michael Shermer reviews Today We Die a Little! The Inimitable Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time by Richard Askwith, and Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zátopek by Rick Broadbent. These ran in the Wall Street Journal under the title “The Greatest Runner of All Time” on June 3, 2016.
In the annals of running, almost everyone knows the significance of 1954, for that is the year the great British miler Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile and became a symbol for conquering psychological barriers to human achievement. Few people know that, in the same year, a Czechoslovakian long-distance runner named Emil Zátopek became the first to break the 30-minute barrier for 10,000 meters, an arguably tougher accomplishment given how much longer the agony must be endured.
The 1954 record was one of many marks to fall to Zátopek. At 6 feet, 159 pounds, this scrappy and sinewy athlete was known as the “Czech Locomotive” because of his noticeably audible wheezing and groaning and the contorted facial expressions that accompanied his efforts. “It isn’t gymnastics or figure skating, you know,” he once growled. Contrasting himself to milers, he opined: “If you want to run, run a mile; if you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.”
Zátopek’s deeds at the 1948 Olympic Games in London netted him gold in the 10,000 meters and silver in the 5,000 meters. Four years later, at the Helsinki Games, he took gold in the 5,000 meters, the 10,000 meters and, stunningly, the marathon—his first, which he entered on something of a whim. All three runs were Olympic records, and the trifecta has never been matched (and probably never will be). Zátopek went on to set world records for 20,000 meters, 25,000 meters, 30,000 meters, 6 miles, 10 miles and 15 miles. He held the men’s one-hour world record for years and was the first to break the 20,000-meter mark in that time. (continue reading…)