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Wow another trip down memory lane this morning. One of my favorite all time greats at the height of his career. For me the electric atmosphere in the stadium as Zatopek entered, the victory lap on the shoulders of McKinley, Rhoden, Wint and Lang, is most memorable. (The crowd had just seen perhaps the greatest one lap run in a major competition, the last chance for Herb Mc to get an Oly gold). If I could choose to be anywhere to witness a track meet, I would choose Helsinki on that day in 1952.Originally posted by jeremyp View Post -
Thank you for posting this. A wonderful article about a true legend.Comment
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I've bored you guys before about my afternoon tea with Emil and Dana in 1963. He didn't speak much English and I spoke no Czech so we talked in Indonesian.Comment
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Many thanks for the reminder about a great runner and great man! His best years were before my interest in running began, but I had read about his fantastic exploits once I did become interested in running, and had also read about the Soviets’ attempts to humiliate him.
When I was finally able to travel to the Czech Republic a few years ago, I was pleased to discover that Zatopek is still revered, even by young people there.Comment
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I've mentioned elsewhere on the board that one of the more stunning and unexpected "celebrity" encounters I've ever had was sometime late 70's early 80's at a NYC Marathon event held a day or two prior to the race. I was sitting down next to my wife talking to her and when I turned back to my right I saw a gentleman about to sit down right next to me. I immediately recognized him as Zatopek having no idea that he'd be there or even allowed out of his home country. He was very engaging in what amounted to a series of exchanges of various forms of stammering "welcome to NY" out of me. I tried and have tried over the years explaining to my wife who he was, why I'd be caught so off guard, and why I'd be so impressed by his celebrity (I'm not normally) but she's never gotten it fully.Comment
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Didn't Emil gift his Helsinki 10000m Gold medal to Ron Clarke after Clarke visited him in Prague?Comment
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