Emil Zatopek at the Helsinki Olympics

In 1952, the Summer Olympics took place at the height of the Cold War in Helsinki, Finland. Czechoslovak army officer Emil Zatopek achieved a unique feat in athletics by winning gold in the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon. Zatopek's biographer, Richard Askwith, speaks to Simon Watts about the athlete's incredible achievement. This programme was first broadcast in 2016. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded. Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created. (Photo: Emil Zatopek. Credit: Bettmann)

You can listen to Emil Zatopek at the Helsinki Olympics online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Emil Zatopek at the Helsinki Olympics is an episode from Sporting Witness by BBC.

This episode is 10:23 long.

This episode was published on Feb 28, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Sporting Witness when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.