8 Quotes & Sayings By Emil Zatopek

Emil Zatopek, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 7 August 1912. He was the youngest of four children. His father was an engineer and his mother was a homemaker. Zatopek's mother died when he was very young, so he spent the first years of his life living with his grandmother. Emil moved to Stuttgart, Germany, at age 17 to study engineering Read more

There he began running competitively, winning the Stuttgart 10K race in 1932 and becoming one of the first non-German athletes ever to win that race. The defeat of Germany in World War II led to Zatopek's exile from his homeland. During this time he won the Berlin Marathon (1944) and also trained for two years with the Czechoslovak army as an officer of athletics.

Zatopek's athletic career would be interrupted through most of the 1940s by military service. He won three gold medals at the 1948 Olympics in London (5,000 meters run; 3,000 meter steeplechase; and 10K cross-country). After leaving athletic competition he became a professional writer who wrote non-fiction books on sports and youth development topics. Zatopek died on 18 July 1984 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany at age 71 from cancer of the lung. In 2013 a street in Prague was named after him as well as a statue of Emil Zatopek at Prudential Center in Boston, MA

1
An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head. Emil Zatopek
2
A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket. Emil Zatopek
3
If one can stick to the training throughout the many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It's raining? That doesn't matter. I am tired? That's besides the point. It's simply that I just have to. Emil Zatopek
4
If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon. Emil Zatopek
5
We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon. Emil Zatopek
6
Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater. Emil Zatopek
7
It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys. Emil Zatopek