- Condition: **
- Year: 2022
The whole issue is reminiscent of the success of a married couple of prominent Czechoslovak athletes, Olympic winners, people who embodied Olympic ideas and values. Emil and Dana Zátopek were born on the same day, 19 September 1922.
a) Dana Zátopková, née Ingrová, was born into the family of a professional soldier and first tried athletics at a grammar school. After two years of training, in 1948, as the national champion, she represented Czechoslovakia at the Olympic Games in London. Like her husband, she achieved her greatest sporting success at the Helsinki Olympics. She won the gold medal in javelin throw on 24 July 1952, the same day that her husband Emil Zátopek won the gold medal in the 5 km run. Both medals were won in a few minutes’ interval, and to this day they are the only registered couple who have won the Olympic Games in this way. After the end of her active athletic career, Dana continued working as a coach. She died on in Prague on 13 March 2020 at the age of 97 years.
b) Emil Zátopek was born into a poor family. He started working at the age of sixteen in Baťa’s shoe factory, where the athletes of Baťa’s club tried to encourage his talent. Nevertheless, he initially failed to win. He had to develop his own training system, which started a series of stunning victories on endurance tracks. He became the first person to run 10 km in less than 29 minutes and 20 km in less than 1 hour. He became a legend during the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952, where he won the 5 km run, the 10 km run, and the marathon, which he ran for the first time in his life.
