Zatopek: An Olympic legend

Zatopek (left) was the one of the greatest Olympians

BBC Sport Online looks back at the life of Emil Zatopek, the four-times Olympic gold medallist who died on Wednesday.

Czech runner Emil Zatopek was in a class of his own.

He achieved the unthinkable in the space of eight days in Helsinki 48 years ago.

The man renowned for promoting his humanist views off the track provided Finland and the Olympics with some the greatest endeavours ever seen on an athletics track.

Four years previously, the former Czech army colonel strode to gold in the 10,000m at the London Games - but what happened at Helsinki took the sport to new levels.

He elected to run in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon in just over week - and he won them all.

It was a time when the "The Czech Locomotive" ruled the roost over the long distance events.

Prepared

Zatopek was born on 19 September 1922, in the north-east Czech town of Koprivnice.

During a six-year period, from 1948 through to 1954, he won an unprecedented 38 consecutive 10,000m races and set 18 world records over various distances.

Zatpopek was a gentleman off the track

In 1952, after winning the 5,000m and 10,000m in worlkd record times his thoughts were drawn to his biggest challenge to date, the marathon.

The thought of an athlete competing over 26 miles after having collected long distance titles sounded ridiculous to most.

But the Czech was not foolish and had prepared for the task in hand.

He was known to train through the woods of Prague wearing his army boots, running a hundred 400m sprints every day for a week at a time.

Zatopek was perhaps slightly cocky when he asked his rivals in the marathon if the pace was fast enough, but he was still a gentleman.

He gained the respect of the athletes because he reached out a hand of friendship to all and made an effort to communicate with them after learning a variety of languages.

The marathon title was won comfortably - by nearly two laps of the track.

Generosity

Zatopek retired from competitive racing in 1958.

  Zatopek statistics

18 world records over 15 years

First 10,000m race run under 29 minutes.

1948 Olympics: Gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m

1952: Three golds, including marathon success

In 1966 he showed his generosity by giving the Helsinki 10,000m medal to Australian runner Ron Clarke, who had never won an Olympic title.

Controversy followed when he had his Communist Party membership terminated after speaking out against the Soviet take-over of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

But Zatopek found a role at the Czechoslovak Physical Training Association in 1970, and later in the decade was associated with the Czech national sports institute.

During his final years Zatopek settled down with wife Dana - who won gold in the javelin at the 1952 Games - in a small town outside Prague.

Feats

In 1999 he was voted as the greatest Olympic champion from the Czech Republic by a jury of experts and journalists from the country.

During the past 12 months he had been admitted to hospital due to pneumonia and a broken hip and was also said to have suffered from depression.

Many will fondly remember Zatopek for his feats on the track and conduct off it.

It was the Australian, Clarke, who summed up the opinion held by most of the four-time Olympic gold medallist.

"His enthusiasm, his friendliness, his love of life, shone through every movement. There is not and never was a greater man than Emil Zatopek."