Emil Zátopek Emil Zátopek Emil Zátopek (; 19 September 1922 – 22 November 2000) was a Czechoslovak long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life. He was nicknamed the "Czech Locomotive". In 1954, Zátopek was the first runner to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10,000 metres. Three years earlier in 1951, he had broken the hour for running 20 km. He
Emil Škoda Emil Škoda Emil Ritter von Škoda (18 November 1839 – 8 August 1900) was a Czech engineer and industrialist, founder of Škoda Works, the predecessor of today's Škoda Auto and Škoda Transportation. Emil Škoda was born in Plzeň on November 19, 1839 to a physician and politician František Škoda, and mother Anna Říhová. Škoda studied engineering in Prague and Karlsruhe and in 1866 became chief engineer of the machine factory of Ernst Fürst von Waldstein-Wartenberg, founded in 1859 at Pilsen. He bought the factory three years later, in 1869, and began to expand it, building a railway connection to the