Emil Zátopek was one of the greatest long-distance runners of all time and a hero in his homeland of Czechoslovakia. Zátopek also participated in politics and was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, although he was expelled after he participated in protests during the Prague Spring in 1968. Oldrich Tuma discusses the complications and contradictions of Zátopek’s life, as well as the role of sport in Czechoslovakia.

Episode notes: http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/resource/sport-in-the-cold-war/episode-37-emil-zatopek