Endurance

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEARThe story of the greatest long-distance athlete in history ¿ a tale of running, redemption and political exile.In the summer of 1952 Emil Z¿pek became the king of the running world with an unprecedented distance treble at the Olympic Games in Helsinki. Together with his wife Dana, who won another gold medal in the javelin, they were the embodiment of sporting romance. Born on the same day, they were champions on the same day too. Yet in 1968 this affable but eccentric Czech soldier was betrayed by his Communist paymasters and cast out into wilderness. Hidden from world view, monitored by the secret police and forced to live in a caravan in mining country, he became the invisible hero. Endurance is the first biography to document the remarkable rise, fall and rehabilitation of a man voted the ''greatest runner of all time'' by Runner''s World. It is also the story of a golden age of sport played out agai