Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia can claim one of track's rarest feats - winning the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon in a single Olympic Games. Beating the cream of the world in the two track events in front of a large and enthusiastic Finnish crowd would have been enough gratification for anyone. To this day, only four other men have achieved this Olympic double. But Zátopek, a man who knew how to fight pain and fatigue, wanted more. Three days after his second victory on the track, he lined up to start his first ever marathon. Eager to avoid mistakes, he stayed close to "specialists" Jim Peters of Great Britain and Gustav Jansson of Sweden. He soon found their pace too slow and surged ahead to win in Olympic record time: 2:23:04. In later years, the ever-modest Zátopek would recall that race as "the easiest of my career."

Like Nurmi, the Czech had come into his own rather late. World War II deprived him of some of his best athletic years and he was 26 by the time he made his Olympic debut at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Despite his lack of competition experience, he won the 10,000m and was a close second to Gaston Reiff of Belgium in the 5000m. During his long career, Zátopek set 20 world records at distances ranging from 5000 to 30,000m. In 1951 he became the first man to cover 20 kilometres in an hour (20,052m). His wife Dana (née Ingrova) was a leading javelin thrower. On July 24 1952, in Helsinki, she won the Olympic title in her event an hour after he had triumphed in the 5000m. A unique coincidence in athletics history. But then, they were "astrological twins", who shared a birthday of September 19 1922.