marathon champion Gelindo Bordin, two Italians, conferred at the Cibulka Restaurant in Prague, convinced that Prague should have a marathon just like New York City and London. Their first instinct upon coming to that conclusion, which they immediately followed up on, was “Let’s call Emil.”

With Emil’s support, the first Prague International Marathon was held on June 4, 1995, with Olympic Marathon champions Emil Zatopek and Gelindo Bordin serving as patrons and grand marshals.

On May 11, 2012, a gala dinner was hosted in honor of the 60th anniversary of Emil Zatopek’s Olympic distance triple. Dana Zatopkova, Emil’s beloved wife, was the guest of honor. At 89 years old (she and Emil shared the same birthday, September 19, 1922), she was still spry and feisty and fluent in several languages. Besides her javelin gold in the Helsinki Olympics, she also took silver in the same event in Rome in 1960. (See Roger Robinson’s memorial speech starting on page 44 of this article.)

Behind the podium was a huge blowup of Dana leaning over the stands at the 1952 Olympics giving Emil a heartfelt kiss while Emil was pressed back almost horizontally. In honor of Emil’s feat 60 years ago and to capture the “Run the Czech Republic” theme, the marathon published a large-format commemorative book featuring a special 36-page collection of Zatopek photographs, some of them never before seen by the public. Race weekend was festive and colorful, and the name Zatopek was uttered by many a tongue. To further elevate the weekend, Carlo Capalbo and PIM hosted the 19th Annual Congress of AIMS (The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races), a worldwide group representing

Helsinki Olympics 1952: Emil and Dana’s relationship transcended sports. If they’d had children, what level of talent might the kids have had?

sy Prague International Marathon,

Photo

320 marathons and road races scattered over 95 countries. Representatives from 55 countries attended.

The history of the Prague International Marathon has been characterized by numerous highlights, but the most significant has been to serve as the seedbed for RunCzech.com, an ambitious program to promote road racing throughout the Czech Republic.

The first Prague International Marathon featured 950 entrants as well as 19,000 amateur athletes taking part in related events. Two years later, the marathon entrant rolls doubled to 1,848. The next year, the marathon course was altered so that it crossed the Charles Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in all of Europe and long a symbol of the Czech capital.

The 1999 edition of the marathon gained a sister event, a half-marathon that was held outside the city center in Stromovka Park, a green space favored by many a Prague runner. The Czechs are traditionally devotees of music of any type, so a two-day open-air music festival was set up in conjunction with the marathon.

In 2001, the half-marathon was brought into the center of the city and started on the Charles Bridge. By 2006, the half-marathon had grown to the point that it surpassed the marathon in entrants, with 4,207 (in 2012, there were 11,054 entrants); the half continues to outpace the marathon in entrants and is held two weeks before the Volkswagen Prague Marathon.

In 2007, a marathon sport expo was added to the weekend’s bill; it was held at the Vystavi8té exhibition grounds and drew 30,000.

Steady growth

The 2010 marathon drew its largest contingent to that date with 7,934 entrants. And in spite of parts of the course sporting cobblestones, Eliud Kiptanui of Kenya ran an amazing 2:05:39. In 2011 and 2012, the Volkswagen Prague Marathon was awarded the IAAF Road Race Gold Label distinction; it is one of only 14 marathons in the world to receive the honor. The award is given to marathons that provide both a great sporting venue and an economic benefit to the host city.

It is difficult to find a place in Prague that isn’t suffering from marathon fever. Everywhere there are tourists in running shoes and fashionable running wear. Restaurants feature “Welcome Runners” signs. At the site of the marathon sport expo the day before the race, there is a 4.5-kilometer Pedigree Walk with Dogs at 4:00 p.m. Each of the mutts is fitted with a race bib, and three dedicated volunteers bring up the rear armed with shovels and plastic bags.

Later that evening, the Prague Spring Concert was held in the Old Town Square at 6:00 p.., just feet from the start/finish lines of the marathon. The concert officially opens the spring concert season. We assumed it would be Dvorak, possibly Symphony No. 9, From the New World. Instead it was a Dixieland jazz band very

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A In spite of cobblestone segments of the course, in 2010 Kenya’s Eliud Kiptanui won in an amazing 2:05:39.

similar to the one that plays every day halfway across the Charles Bridge. The band was very good, and everyone was in a festive mood, even the half-dozen panhandlers who saw the spiffy running shoes and duds as a sign of potential prosperity. Tourists dug into their pockets and passed along some crowns to the down-and-out folks. The Czech Republic doesn’t use the euro but stays with its

restaurants are not inclined to accept euros for anything, although the occasional shop will accept them. The Czech people have always danced to their own music. It is also very easy to be understood in Prague; although the Czech language is difficult for a foreigner to master, many a Czech understands English.

The city is also ahead of the marathon curve in another, more practical and spiritual sense: The PIM offers a Marathon Mass at 7:30 a.m. (90 minutes before race start) at the Sv. Kiize church near the start line. “It’s not easy to run this long 42-kilometer course. You might find a better outlook and encourage yourself with prayer at the prerace Marathon Mass preached by ‘the running priest’” at the church, the official program of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon declares. Just as there are no atheists in a foxhole, there is nothing wrong with asking for help before you run into trouble at 20 miles.

The start and finish of the marathon are in the middle of Old Town Square, the most significant square in Prague, seat of the Jan Hus Monument and the Old

Photo courtesy Prague International Marathon

Town Hall and featuring the world-famous Astronomical Clock. The start corrals (A through H) line up on Celetna Street with the later corrals winding onto Ovocny trh Street. The maps in the runner’s guide are easy to follow, and the race instructions are in six languages.

A Jumbotron in the middle of the square broadcasts the live television coverage to the crowd once the race begins. Bands play, announcements are made, a handful of gals dressed in traditional costume walk huge bouquets of white and blue helium balloons into the center of the square, and at the start of the race the balloons are let loose—something that would never be allowed in most American cities for fear of endangering wildlife somewhere.

Pace-group leaders report to their designated corrals. The pacers are easy to pick out; they sport a different color for each specific goal time: 3:00 is yellow, 3:15 is pink, and so forth, all the way to 5:00, which is purple. There is a seven-hour cutoff, after which vehicular Prague takes over the streets except at the square, which limits vehicular traffic to bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, unicycles, and Segways.

A course to avoid the hills

The course itself is cleverly done to accommodate the fact that across the river is nothing but hillside, at the top of which sprawls Prague Castle, one of the largest castle complexes in the world.

Here is the official description of the course:

“The start of the race is towards the Vltava River through Parizska Street. Cross the river and run towards Mala Strana (Lesser Town) and run over the famous Charles Bridge towards the Rudolfinum. From there follow the river stream to HoleSovice, cross the Libefisky Bridge and continue to the Old Town Square. Run through it towards the National Theatre and run a loop in Nusle and Podolf. From there cross Palacky Bridge to Smichov and turn on Strakonické Street. Run along the river and cross Most Legii toward the National Theatre and the Rudolfinum. From there repeat the loop in HoleSovice to the finish on the Old Town Square.”

As you can see, there are numerous bridge crossings [““Most” means “bridge”’] because the course uses every possible bit of real estate in the river valley that runs through Prague; it’s the only way to escape the hills—the gradual hills on the east and the really big hills on the west.

Old Town Square is a major landmark and gathering place in Prague. All day long there are tour guides holding umbrellas in the air so their charges can follow them to various sightseeing venues that ring the square. The start/finish line is in the southern portion of the square. The race begins by running along Pafizska Street, which is famous as the center of upscale international stores—everything from Cartier to Rolex. This first mile of the race runs through the Jewish Quarter.

A Looking down at the Old Town Square from the Town Hall Tower, the start/finish area couldn’t be more perfect.

The street empties onto the roadway running along the east side of the Vitava River, which bisects Prague. The course crosses the river by way of Cechtv Most and then turns left, looping through neighborhoods behind the Kafka Museum, then takes another left and comes back to the east side of the river via the Karliv Most (Charles Bridge) before looping around back to the west side of the river by way of the Manestiv Most at kilometer three. The course heads north along the river and at 7.5 kilometers returns to the east side by crossing the Liberisky Most. Kilometers eight to 11 are run in a southerly direction along the east side of the river before turning left onto Parizska Street, where the course began and where it now comes right through the start/finish area in the square. It takes some tight turns through the urban neighborhoods before coming back out to the east side of the river, where it runs south a couple of kilometers before heading back into town for a loop of Sekaninova and Jaromirova (just south of the Folimanka Park). Then it returns to the river for a southern out-and-back of two kilometers in each direction. The course then crosses the Palacky Bridge to do a similar out-and-back on the west side of the river, the return trip going as far north as the Most Legif at 31 kilometers.

There are only two bridges along the entire length of the river that the marathon does not cross—Jirdsktv and Zeleznién{. In another kilometer, the course again goes to the west side of the river via Manestiv Most and heads north for four kilometers before crossing the Libetisky Most, repeating the loop between four

Photo courtesy Prague In

Runners cross many bridges during the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, but the most famous of those is the legendary Charles Bridge.

and 12 kilometers. Now it’s a sharp left onto the exclusive Parizska Street again, witha stirring finish in the Old Town Square.

Atno time is the course more than five kilometers from the start/finish line. The running surface can be challenging because it changes so often from one surface to another and includes some stretches of cobblestone, which is extremely common in Prague. Traversing the many bridges can be a little disorienting if you try to keep track of which bridge you’re on, but the course is clearly marked and there is certainly no chance of getting lost. There are two dozen bands along the course, some of which runners can enjoy several times as the course turns on itself at several places.

The 2012 marathon boasted more than 9,000 entrants from 89 countries. The marathon is a terrific way to take a tour of the flatter portions of Prague but by no means comes close to exhausting the tourist sites. Besides crossing the famed Charles Bridge, the course takes runners past Klementinum (the National Library) at 2.8 and 32 kilometers, the National Theatre at 14.7 and 31.3 kilometers, and VySehrad (center of ancient legends and myths about Czech history) at 19 and 23 kilometers.

Prague is a tourist hotspot. While most of Europe during World War II suffered war damage from aerial bombing and artillery shelling, Prague was spared. The heart of Prague has four primary tourist areas: on the east side of the Vitava River

Photo courtesy Prague International Marathon

is Old Town (including Old Town Square and the Jewish Quarter), and surrounding it is New Town (which includes Wenceslas Square), while on the west side is Castle Quarter (the huge Prague Castle atop the hill, including St. Vitus Cathedral), and between it and the river is Little Quarter, where the Czech and European nobility once resided. Old Town and Little Quarter are connected by the Charles Bridge. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union and its peaceful separation from Slovakia, the Czech Republic is considered part of Central Europe, no longer a Soviet satellite of Eastern Europe.

Eating in Prague

Most people sauntering around Prague are trim and healthy. There is more cigarette smoking than Americans are likely to find in major US cities, but much of the population in central Prague gets around by public transportation and by shoe leather. The people maintain a fairly trim silhouette in spite of the facts that there are both large and small restaurants and coffee shops on nearly every corner and that the national edible is the dumpling (plain or potato) drowned in gravy. If you’re a traditional middle American raised on meat and potatoes, in Prague you’ve died and gone to heaven.

We’ll mention a few places we tried and enjoyed, three of them just off the Old Town Square and one near the Hilton, where we stayed. (The Hilton is also one of the partners of the PIM.)

U Zlaté Konvice. Stand in front of the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square. Now turn 180 degrees. Just across the cobblestones, you’ll see a set of steps going down into the sidewalk with a menu on a pedestal just above the steps. If you like meat dishes (you can even order a roasted pig for you and your friends with a day’s notice), this is your place. We dined in the catacomblike lower chamber, which dates back to the 14th century. The restaurant serves every kind of meat imaginable and offered three kinds of dumplings.

Restaurant U Prince Terrace. If you want something more upscale and with the most outstanding view of the city, again stand in front of the Astronomical Clock; now turn left about 90 degrees and look up. On the rooftop of the building bordering the square, you’ ll see a small restaurant. Walk into the U Prince Hotel (a five-star accommodation) and proceed down the hall to the little elevator; it will whisk you up to the rooftop, where you can enjoy a wonderful meal while watching twilight descend over the city. If it is a little on the cool side, there is plenty of space indoors. It’s a little pricey, but the experience may be worth it. The menu comes with full-color pictures of the dishes offered and descriptions in a half-dozen languages.

Caffe Italia Ristorante. A little more down to earth both in location and prices, the Caffe Italia can be located again by standing in front of the Astronomical

Clock; look to the right about 45 degrees; just past the massive Jan Hus Memorial is an outdoor restaurant (it also features tables inside in the event that the weather is foul) from which you can watch tourists and locals wander about the Old Town Square. Goulash served in a bread bowl (the bowl is baked locally and is delicious) costs about $15; the chunks of meat are big and tender and savory; a bottle of Italian chardonnay to accompany your meal will run just under $20.

Gate Restaurant. We stayed at the Hilton and on several occasions enjoyed meals at the Gate Restaurant, located at 31 Sokolovska Street, just a few blocks away. Leave the Hilton from the side opposite the river and walk through the little shopping mall, and when you exit onto the street, turn left and walk a few blocks; the restaurant is on the corner just beyond the overhead rail line. There is dining on the porch out front, or you can eat inside; smoking is allowed upstairs (and a lot of Czechs smoke), but downstairs there is a nonsmoking area with a huge aquarium at the far end. You can get a Staropramen (Prague’s largest brewery) draft for about $2 and a nice salad for about $3.50.

Beer in Prague

Beer is ubiquitous in the Czech Republic. At one time it served as a primary food source and on average, the typical Czech adult drinks 80 gallons of beer a year. The local pub is the center of Czech life, where everything from sports to politics is discussed seriously and at length—which, of course, requires that you keep a well-lubricated tongue. Foreigners should be aware that once you order your first beer at a Prague establishment, the waiter assumes that when your glass or bottle is empty, you automatically want it refilled or replaced. If you don’t want more, best to let the waiter know before he or she goes into automatic mode.

Pilsner-style lager beer was invented in Plzem, not far from Prague. Most mass-produced American beer is done in the pilsner style. Of course, the most world-famous pilsner-style lager is Pilsner Urquell, which is available at virtually every pub or restaurant in Prague. It is, of course, the most famous Czech beer in the United States. Recently, the S&H Independent Premium Brands of Denver, Colorado, began importing Staropramen into the United States.

One of the fun things to do in Prague is to hunt down the numerous other Czech beers, of which there are many, few of which are imported to the United States, so your trip to Prague may be your one and only chance to try these other brands.

One of the most popular “other” brands in Prague is Budweiser, but it isn’t the Budweiser of the United States. It’s the Czech Budweiser, which is very popular and which doesn’t taste like American Bud because it isn’t; Czech Bud is marketed in America under the name Czechvar.

Running in the Czech Republic

The Volkswagen Prague Marathon has served as the engine to launch an increasingly ambitious series of races throughout the Czech Republic, with the races at various distances and spread across the country. In order to assure consistent quality, all of the races fall under the administration of the PIM. Besides the marathon, the series also includes the Hervis Prague Half-Marathon, the Mattoni Prague Grand Prix, the Olomouc Half-Marathon, the Volkswagen Usti Half-Marathon, and the Ceské Budéjovice Half-Marathon. The plan is to add one new event per year. It is expected that by 2014, there will be 81,800 participants. The goal is to offer world-class running events in every region of the Czech Republic. The theme is “Who is running the country?” For more information, visit RunCzech.com.

An interview with PIM race director Carlo Capalbo

M&B:Whatis your running background? Did you run in school? For a club?

Carlo: I will probably disappoint you in admitting that I was never a professional runner. But I ran a lot in my life. First, being a professional sportsman, my training included running, so I ran a few half-marathons and numerous shorter races. Although I was the fastest kid in school when I was young, I gravitated to other sports. I did my best running on behalf of my mother. When she was cooking those big Italian meals, she would often need some small ingredients late in the cooking process, and she would turn me loose to run to the store to get them. I was happy to run and bring them back. She always claimed I was the fastest among her four kids.

M&B: What kind of background in race management did you have when you arrived in Prague?

Carlo: When I came to Prague, I did not have any experience in putting on a major race, other than being around some of my friends who had expertise in that area. I did have extensive experience in marketing and management. All my education and previous professional life was in marketing and managing start-up companies. I graduated law in Italy and then studied economics in Turin and completed an MBA at the University of California at Berkeley. My professional career started in the IT industry in Italy, and then in 1988 I joined the WordPerfect Corporation, where I held a number of managerial positions, including country manager for Italy and regional manager for other European countries.

Italian race director Carlo Capalbo has taken the Czech Republic to

his heart the same way the Czech Republic has embraced him.

That was my starting point to leverage my new career. The only thing I knew at that time was that I was able to motivate groups of people… teams… and to achieve results—even the most unexpected results.

M&B: How did an Italian end up in Prague as the director of its premier running event? Were there no suitable opportunities in Italy?

Carlo: You mention in your question Italy and Prague. They are two words connected to Europe. I consider myself a European. I was born in an Italian region, worked in a German region, and lived in the Czech region, so for me there was not much of a difference, except perhaps the languages, which I did manage to master. Why not put together a race in Italy? Because that part of Western Europe—known as Old Europe—is quite different in terms of opportunities and enthusiasm than the other part—the New Europe, where I had luck to live and where there is more dynamism, more enthusiasm to build things than in the static, conservative Old Europe.

M&B: What are some of the obstacles you encountered as an Italian coming to Prague to start a race?

Carlo: Just the usual obstacles which Italians historically face, that we have in our culture. I don’t want to compare myself with any other famous Italians, but can you imagine when Columbus started to search for the new lands thinking to go and prove the world was round and found America? Or Marco Polo, who opened the Chinese culture to Europe? Or when Guglielmo Marconi announced to the people that they could talk through a wire [telegraph] and later by way of the radio? What people thought about these fellows is that they were crazy. I was faced with similar comments, that I was a crazy visionary, that it would not be possible to create in the Czech Republic something that exists in other major cities like Berlin, Chicago, and London. But in general, I received

Photo courtesy Prague International Marathon

a lot of love and advice, and maybe this was due to the fact that I had good timing. I started this project when Czechoslovakia was coming out of 45 years of communist rule. Indeed, it is probably easier to convince a young country to try something like this.

M&B: Expand for us the fateful night you and Gelindo Bordin cooked this race up over some Czech beer.

Carlo: Yes. This is very true. The Czech beer is the best beer in the world, and it has a lot of side effects. It helps to dream. And in this case it influenced myself and Gelindo. So after the first beer we were smiling and laughing and remembering Gelindo’s many running successes. After the second beer, we had already an idea almost shaped. After the third beer, we drew the map of the race on a small paper tray and called Emil Zatopek. We then went to visit Emil and his wife, Dana, who from that time became like my second set of parents, at least until 2000, when Emil died. Dana still remains like my dear extra mother. Emil promised to call the mayor and let him know that one Italian visionary is going to come and share some ideas with him. Of course, the mayor’s expression was one of surprise and even against any expected parameter he said: “This project seems so incredible, but if it works out the result will be an immense success. Go and try. And just keep me updated. Because if you fail, I will have risked my position as a mayor. And I would just like to know about it before and not to find it out from the newspapers.”

M&B: How did you get around the wall of Czech bureaucrats to get to the people who were able to give you the green light?

Carlo: Surprisingly, very easy. Even though the country had some heritage from the communist regime in terms of bureaucracy, this was ameliorated by the enthusiasm and love the various institutions showed us. And on top of that, those people were just so curious to see how this would go. So at the end of the day, those people helped me and believed I would make that dream come true. I should also give thanks to Mr. Francesco Alzati, the patron and inventor of the famous Stramilano long-distance race in Milano, Italy. He was the most visionary and a great help in guiding me.

M&B: Besides your goal of getting everyone in the Czech Republic to run (as you seem to be doing with your RunCzech.com project), how do you see the PIM growing over the next five years?

Carlo: Our clear objective is to make Prague and the Czech Republic a center of excellence for running, here in Europe and in the whole world.

Using such benchmarks as London, New York City, Berlin, and Boston, we understand that we can hardly copy their level of service and professionalism, although we try hard and I believe we are at a good level. What we can never match is their size. But we think RunCzech.com could allow us to leverage the size and number of participants and due to the same management, the same quality of service, and consistency spread across the various events, the project can be perceived as one product. Our mission is to create a tangible value for individuals and the country, and we believe we can achieve this by encouraging a healthy lifestyle and promoting Prague and the Czech Republic as an attractive destination for active people on holiday. Our plan is to have by 2014 some eight races in different cities of the Czech Republic, with the same level of quality we have in Prague, all certified by IAAF and AIMS and possibly bearing an IAAF label system. The RunCzech.com running league will be open to all amateur runners who can compete on a level field, and they will be awarded points for completed races. In 2014, we plan to have 81,000 people running in our races.

Over the past 18 years, PIM has evolved. We always tried to think creatively and “out of the box,” sometimes considering the most dangerous and unexpected ideas, but always keeping it runner-centric, turning the race into a spectacle, creating an event that is attractive to partners [sponsors], supporting running and a healthy lifestyle in the younger generation. I think that the people, the so-called progressive achievers, are realizing the problem we have with obesity, even among young people, and understand that it is better to invest in such things as the active lifestyle while being environmentally friendly and socially responsible. Businesswise, I think this [running] is the best industry you can be in, because what we do is useful for both mind and body.

M&B: Are you still a citizen of Italy? Do you think of yourself as at least partially Czech?

Carlo: As I told you before, I am a citizen of Europe. And if you ask me, of course my soul speaks Czech besides Italian. But this is not a question of geography or nationality but is a question where you have the chance to find a “vehicle” to express your values, be proud of them, make your dreams come true, and help the people—just ordinary people—to have a more positive life. And that is what determines your sense of belonging. And that is the reason I am proud to think Czech, because Czechs gave me this opportunity to help.

A Tribute to Emil Zatopek

by Roger Robinson

to celebrate the 60th anniversary of arguably the greatest achievement in the history of running, when Emil Zatopek won the 10,000 meters, 5,000 meters, and marathon at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. No other runner has achieved that treble.

An hour after Zdtopek’s hard-earned 5,000-meter victory, his wife, Dana Zatopkovd, won the gold medal for the women’s javelin. Now age 89, she was a special guest and a feisty speaker at the dinner. Other speakers were Czech national and civic dignitaries, 1988 Olympic marathon champion Rosa Mota, and running author and historian (and frequent Marathon & Beyond contributor) Dr. Roger Robinson, who delivered the main tribute to Zatopek.

This is Roger’s speech, looking back on Zdatopek’s first emergence at world level at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Dana Zaétopkova, and many other distinguished guests:

London in 1948 was a gray world for a small boy. There were few cars, little money, not much food. We got one egg a week, scarcely any meat, no chocolate or ice cream for us children. Everywhere you saw the ruins of houses or factories that bombs had destroyed. We boys played there among the fallen bricks and long grass.

There was not much color in our lives. We looked for heroes. We watched local footballers on the recreation ground, and sometimes we went to the nearby running track, called Motspur Park, to watch the athletes of London University train and race. I admired the sprinter McDonald Bailey and the tall 440/880 runner Arthur Wint, both West Indians, who often won races at Motspur Park. But I was no sprinter, and the race I most enjoyed watching was the three miles.

That summer of 1948, I heard there was going to be something called the Olympic Games in London. It didn’t mean much to a child in those postwar years. There had been no Olympics since 1936. The Games were going to be at Wembley, a long journey by bus across gray, sprawling London. And my family had no money to buy tickets.

Then just before the Games, a neighbor, Mr. Lutterloch, came round (we had no telephone) to ask if I would like to go with him to the first day of the track and field. He and his wife had no children, and sometimes he took me to sports events.

So on a hot day, Friday, July 30, 1948, I went with Mr. Lutterloch to this famous place called Wembley, which I had heard of as the best football stadium. The day before, July 29, the Games had been opened by King George, but we had no TV. No one I knew had TV. What excited me as we rode the bus to Wembley was that I was going to see McDonald Bailey and Arthur Wint. And Mr. Lutterloch said there would be a race called 10,000 meters, which he explained was even longer than three miles.

I’d never been in a place as huge as Wembley Stadium. It held 100,000 people. Mr. Lutterloch had seats, but most of the crowd were standing. The infield was bright green and the track black. I know now that it was made from crushed cinders from British fireplaces, and the road to the stadium was built by Germans who had been prisoners of war, working with shovels and wheelbarrows.

McDonald Bailey and Arthur Wint both qualified for their finals, so I was happy. We also saw the high jump and the women’s discus—not, I’m sorry to say, the women’s javelin, so I did not see Dana Ingrova (later to be Dana Zatopkova) throw that day.

I was eager to see the 10,000 meters. Mr. Lutterloch told me the best long-distance runners all came from Finland, especially one called Heino, who was the fastest in the world. So it seemed right that when the race began, Heino and another Finn took the lead, both wearing blue. They looked supremely in control, running almost in step, round and round. Twenty-five laps would seem endless to most children, but I was fascinated. The two Finns ran so calmly, with more than 20 runners straggling behind them. I cheered of course for the British runners, Jim Peters and Stan Cox.

After nine laps, the race suddenly changed. A runner in red with white shorts moved up through the line of runners and then into the lead—a runner who seemed to be forcing himself along, not upright and graceful like the Finns but scowling and writhing. Quickly the immaculate Heino slid smoothly back into the lead, and it seemed the brief challenge from the presumptuous nobody was over.

But then he astonished us again. Back to the front he came, still looking tortured. They were almost at halfway now, and this time he stayed in front, and began breaking away—20, 30 meters clear. It was amazing. The crowd was yelling louder than I had ever heard at football games.

Who was he? Mr. Lutterloch looked at his program.

“He’s Zatopek,” he said.

That was the first time I heard a name that has been an important part of my consciousness for the rest of my life.

Gasping and thrashing, Zatopek pushed on, lap after lap, going further and further ahead. He was an image of strenuous effort pushing to the very edge of the will. His will held the strain, but he was breaking the will of others. Mr. Lutterloch nudged me and pointed. Heino was walking off the track, his head hanging down.

The crowd began to chant the name of this new king of running.

“Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek! Z4-to-pek!”

I joined in with my squeaky little boy’s voice.

“Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek!”

This was fun. Soon Zatopek was half a lap in front. Peters and Cox were well back, in about seventh and eighth places. I was not going to see a British victory today. It was hard to be sure what I was seeing. Sports heroes in the 1940s were supposed to be well groomed and elegant. The great English cricketer and footballer Denis Compton appeared on posters on every train station with his glossy black hair advertising a hair oil called Brylcreem. Zatopek didn’t have any hair, or not much, and it certainly wasn’t black and glossy. Nothing about him was groomed and elegant. Yet he was winning.

We in the crowd knew we were watching a historic moment.

“Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek!”” He was lapping all the back of the field now, and as he passed, he seemed to say something encouraging to some of them. His face was still grimacing, and his upper body rolled, but his legs—his legs were magical, his knees lifting high but turning over fast, like the pistons of the steam locomotives that I watched rush by on the railroad at the back of our house.

“Za-to-pek! Zé-to-pek!” The chant followed him round and round, like a vocal Mexican wave. Then the bell rang, and there were cries from the crowd of anger and disbelief. Officials had rung the bell a lap early. Maybe they were confused because he was so far ahead. But Zaétopek never faltered.

“Za-to-pek! Za-to-pek!” Almost at the finish, as he was lapping one runner in the blue of France, he patted him on the shoulder and smiled, and the crowd roared with delight. This was a nice man, not some impersonal machine. We cheered his last lap, every stride.

Emil Zatopek won that 1948 10,000 meters in an Olympic record 29:59.6, by 47.8 seconds. For me, a young boy, it was the moment I discovered my greatest hero. More important, it was the moment I

Emil Zatopek, on the way to winning the 1952 Olympic Marathon in Helsinki, leads Stan Cox (Great Britain) early in the race, Cox, who did not finish that day, was seventh behind Zatopek in the Olympic 10,000 in London in 1948.

© International Olympic Committee

discovered something I wanted to do and get good at—long-distance running. Not be a soldier in another war—that didn’t interest me. Not football—I was too small. Zatopek showed me running.

For the whole sport of running, too, it was a moment of revelation and transformation. In an article about the 1948 Olympics that I published recently in Running Times and several other magazines internationally, I wrote this:

“From that moment, no important distance race would ever be won without intense training— the commitment that Zatopek, in those stillamateur days, inspired runners all over the world to adopt. The old fussings about relaxation, style, no running in winter, and fear of ‘going stale’ were scattered among the cinders that Zatopek’s spikes flung behind him.”

Zatopek was one of the great pioneers in our understanding of longdistance running. In that, he stands historically with Alf Shrubb, Paavo Nurmi, Woldemar Gerschler, and Arthur Lydiard. Zatopek showed above all that the possible quantity of beneficial training is far greater than had been believed—the principle that I call the “quantity of quality.”

He was also a good hero because he gave hope to runners like me, without any great natural talent or speed, showing us that sheer hard work can make you a better runner and that all the hard work can also be fun. Zatopek won that Olympic gold medal in London, and the silver in the rain-soaked 5,000 meters, and four years later his legendary treble of gold medals at Helsinki, because he worked harder than any other runner; because he was so courageous, so fiercely determined, so irrepressibly zestful, and so tactically inventive.