RUNNING LEGEND Emil Zátopek Presented by Mike Sandrock w/Silvio Guerra
Channel: Seth Brigham
Date: 06/03/2012

Boulder is a running Mecca, thus, a 1999 talk on...
Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia, a supreme distance runner whose rugged training regimen was rewarded with unprecedented success. At the 1948 Olympics he won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and finished second in the 5,000 metres. At Helsinki in 1952 he produced one of the greatest performances in distance running history, when he won the 5,000 metres, successfully defended his 10,000 metres title and then took his third gold medal in his first-ever marathon race to complete a "triple" that remains unique in Olympic history. Zátopek closed his Olympic career four years later when he placed 6th in the marathon in Melbourne, running only a few weeks after undergoing hernia surgery. At the European Championships he finished fifth in the 5,000 metres (1946) and won gold in the 5,000 metres (1950) and 10,000 metres (1950, 1954) and bronze in the 5,000 metres (1954). Between 1949 and 1954, he set 18 world records at every distance from 5,000 metres to 30,000 metres, a remarkable display of versatility at the very highest level. He was the first great distance runner to popularize the concept of interval training and his training efforts were legendary.

Silvio Guerra has gotten used to being in the shadow of the winner at the Boston Marathon. In 1999, he was runner-up to Kenyan Joseph Chebet. Last year, Korean Lee Bong Ju slipped ahead of him.

So the runner from Ecuador has never broken the tape, never been given a laurel wreath crown. Just: ''Congratulations on being No. 2; better luck next time.''