Emil Zátopek: The Czech Locomotive

Emil Zátopek was born in Czechoslavakia in 1922, the youngest of six children. He was a distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and it was his greatest achievement.

Emil won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10.000 metres runs. Then he decided to enter the marathon too, ıt was his first marathon ever and he won it. The way he describes a marathon is really interesting.

Emil says: "Run 100 metres to win races , run marathons to gain experience." And then in 1954, Zátopek was the first runner to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10,000 metres. He even had broken the hour for running 20 km.

Emil definitely was one of the greatest runners of the 20th century and was also known for his brutally tough training methods. There is a saying that I really love of his. He says "A runner runs with dreams in her heart."

He wasn't just a runner, he was far away from that. After winning three gold medals in Helsinki, he nicknamed as "Czech Locomotive" because of the incredible speed and power he has. And in November 2000, we lost this amazing man. But, we are all know this for sure: We will all remember him as "Czech Locomotive", even after the centirues.