…..Emil Zatopek – g.o.a.t?

Have you ever asked yourself the question: “who is the greatest long distance runner of all time?” Every generation has it’s great athletes, and from time to time a runner will come along who raises the existing standard to new levels, and appears to be unbeatable. Very occasionally such an athlete stands head and shoulders above their peers, and can be considered a “once in a generation” talent. But the greatest ever ? That’s pretty near impossible to call, but still good fun to have a try !

Essentially, performances need to be considered in the context of the era in which they happened, as an athlete born 100 years ago would be facing a very different set of challenges to those of today, and for that reason it is better to measure the “greatness” of an athlete by their degree of dominance over their contemporaries, in addition to their best times and records achieved.

I would say that in broad terms, there have been three major developments in distance running in the past century which have led to dramatic improvements in performance, and they are 1. A far greater understanding of training techniques (improved over many years of trial and error) 2. Dramatic improvements in sports science and nutrition, and 3. Great leaps forward in the area of the technology/equipment used in the modern era. Today’s athletes have the benefit of all of these developments, so when comparing each generation’s greatest with those of yesteryear, the “playing field” becomes less level with each passing year.

So without any further ado, here’s my suggestion for the distance running G.O.A.T.

Emil Zatopek. Arriving on the world athletics stage just after the end of the 2nd world war, despite fierce competition from the likes of Vladimir Kuts, Viljo Heino, Alan Mimoun, Gaston Reiff, Gordon Pirie and countless others, Zatopek’s legendary heavy training combined with an ability to endure pain and hardship saw him rise to the highest levels of achievement. The simplified statistics are that he set 18 world records between 1949 and 1955, and from 1948 to 1954 he won 4 Olympic golds and one silver medal, and 3 golds and one bronze european championship medals. Those figures alone rank him amongst the very best ever, but in one week in 1952, he achieved a feat that had not been done before and will almost certainly never be matched (even if timetable scheduling allowed) Between Sunday 20th July and Sunday 27th July at the Olympic games in Helsinki, He won the gold medal in the 10000m, the 5000m and the Marathon. On the same afternoon as he won the 5000m, his wife Dana was winning the first of her two Olympic golds in the javelin, throwing a new world record. This exceptional week was the highlight of a remarkable life lived during the brutal communist regime in post war czechoslovakia. A brilliant account of which can be found in Rick Broadbent’s book entitled Endurance. A must read!!!

So that’s my choice made – who would you choose and why? Drop me a line, I’d love to know. Kim.

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