Today We Die a Little. The Inimitable Emil Zatopek, The Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Publisher: Nation Books
Publisher Place: Usa
Publisher Year: 2016
Edition: First Edition

Description: 457 pages. Jacket is in general good condition. There is some light reading wear present, but still a presentable copy. Book is in Very good condition throughout. The only exception is a small inscription to the inside page.

Publishers Description: "We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to enjoy something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." -- Emil Z¡pekFor a decade after the Second World War, Emil Z¡pek -- "the Czech locomotive" -- redefined the sport of distance running, pushing back the frontiers of what was considered possible. He won five Olympic medals, set eighteen world records, and went undefeated in the 10,000-metre race for six years. His dominance has never been equaled.In the darkest days of the Cold War, he stood for a spirit of generous friendship that transcended nationality and politics. Z¡pek was an energetic supporter of the Prague Spring in 1968, championing "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia. But for this he paid a high price. After the uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks, the hardline Communists had their revenge. Z¡pek was expelled from the army, stripped of his role in national sport, and condemned to years of hard and degrading manual labor.Based on extensive research in the Czech Republic, interviews with people across the world who knew him, and unprecedented cooperation from his widow, fellow Olympian Dana Z¡pkov¡journalist Richard Askwiths book breathes new life into the man and the myth, uncovering a glorious age of athletics and an epoch-defining time in world history.

ISBN: 9781568585499