Track spikes Emil Zatopek, a distance runner from Czech Republic, wore them during the 1952 Olympics in Helesinki. The front of the sole features a rigid or semi-rigid spike plate containing between 3 and 9 threaded holes called spike wells. Spikes can be screwed into each well using a spike wrench. Recently, some individuals have attempted to add a "through hole" at the bottom of the spike to make them easier to tighten, remove, and install. Some shoes have permanent or "fixed" spikes which are not meant to be removed. Spikes may break during competition. Track shoes are exceptionally light, some shoes
Emil Starkenstein Emil Starkenstein Emil Starkenstein (December 18, 1884—November 6, 1942) was a Czech-Jewish pharmacologist and one of the founders of clinical pharmacology. He was killed in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp along with a few hundred refugees from Amsterdam after an incident in which a Dutch Jew resisted a Nazi patrol. Emil Starkenstein was born in the Bohemian (now Czech) town of Poběžovice, (Ronsperg) to Jewish German parents. The family had many members who became local physician. Prof. Starkenstein researched and published a family tree in 1927 which traced his family roots as far back as 1350 and included such figures as