Podcasts Culture Great Lives Arthur Smith on Emil Zatopek

Arthur Smith on Emil Zatopek

Published: Dec. 9, 2014, 5:43 p.m.

Matthew Parris \u2013 himself current holder of the House of Commons marathon record time \u2013 meets comedian Arthur Smith, who also turns out to have been a runner when he was younger.

His choice for a Great Life is an athlete whom he has admired since his childhood.

Emil Z\xe1topek emerged onto the international stage in 1948 when he became a sensation at the Olympics in London, but it was his performance in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics which put him in the record books. Already an established distance runner, he bagged gold in the 5000 and 10000 metres and then, having previously given no hint that he would be a champion marathon runner, he also won that race.

The expert witness is Pat Butcher, writer and ex-runner, who is working on a biography of Z\xe1topek, and he argues that no-one is likely ever to equal Z\xe1topek's achievement in winning gold in three different distance events.

Z\xe1topek retired from competitive running in 1957 and later fell heavily out of favour with the post- Dubcek regime in Czechoslovakia.

But he was rehabilitated after 1989 and remains a much-cherished hero in Czech Republic and among the running community.

Producer Christine Hall.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.