52 Quotes by Emil Zatopek

The childhood games ended for me when I was 14 and I finished school. I had to find a job, not an easy thing in those days.

You must be fast enough - you must have endurance. So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.

Sometimes I feel that old desire. Then my body tells me it is 50 years old. I take the easy way instead.

I'm not interested in how long I can hold out, but in how fast I can reach the finishing line.

In my country, I am just a common man... a nobody.

I had started as an average athlete - a normal boy. It took me three years to win a race. I was glad that I endured those three years - that I did not give up.

When I was young, I was too slow. I thought I must learn to run fast by practicing to run fast, so I ran 100 meters fast 20 times. Then I came back, slow, slow, slow.