Emil Zatopek was a Czechoslovak long-distance runner who rose to prominence after winning three gold medals in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won the gold medal in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs.
Emil Zatopek was regarded as one of the greatest runners of the twentieth century and was known for his brutally harsh training methods. The editors of Runner’s World Magazine named him the Greatest Runner of All Time in 2013.
If you are a big fan of Emil Zatopek, you should read the top 25 quotes he has ever said.
- “If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.”― Emil Zatopek
- “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
- “You can’t climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don’t fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a reasonable goal, and then gradually raise it.”― Emil Zatopek
- “I’m not interested in how long I can hold out, but in how fast I can reach the finishing line.”― Emil Zatopek
- “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
- “Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater.”― Emil Zatopek
- “WHAT HAS PASSED IS ALREADY FINISHED WITH. WHAT I FIND MORE INTERESTING IS WHAT IS STILL TO COME.”― EMIL ZATOPEK
- “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”― Emil Zatopek
- “To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.”― Emil Zatopek
- “I had started as an average athlete – a normal boy. It took me three years to win a race. I was glad that I endured those three years – that I did not give up.”― Emil Zatopek
- “Men, today we die a little.”― Emil Zatopek
- “It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.”― Emil Zatopek
- “A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.”― Emil Zatopek
- “Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.”― Emil Zatopek
- “Sometimes I feel that old desire. Then my body tells me it is 50 years old. I take the easy way instead.”― Emil Zatopek
- “In my country, I am just a common man… a nobody.”― Emil Zatopek
- “My running was very simple; it was out of myself.”― Emil Zatopek
- “The athlete of today is not an athlete alone. He’s the center of a team – doctors, scientists, coaches, agents and so on.”― Emil Zatopek
- “There is a great advantage in training under unfavorable conditions. It is better to train under bad conditions, for the difference is then a tremendous relief in a race.”― Emil Zatopek
- “When I was young, I was too slow. I thought I must learn to run fast by practicing to run fast, so I ran 100 meters fast 20 times. Then I came back, slow, slow, slow.”― Emil Zatopek
- “The childhood games ended for me when I was 14 and I finished school. I had to find a job, not an easy thing in those days.”― Emil Zatopek
- “I didn’t know much. It wasn’t possible to buy a book about Nurmi, but I found out that in order to be faster over 10,000m, he ran 5,000m many times in training. And to be better at 5,000m, he ran 1,500m many times. And to be better at 1,500m, he ran four times 400m in training.”― Emil Zatopek
- “You must be fast enough – you must have endurance. So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.”― Emil Zatopek
- “I will run with perfect style when they start judging races for their beauty, like figure-skating. For now, I just want to run as fast as possible.”― Emil Zatopek
- “If I run 100 meters 30 times, that is 3 kilometers and no longer a sprint.”― Emil Zatopek
