The greatest? (2)

In our search for an alternative Greatest Olympian, you could argue that the closest any single event comes to the Olympic ideal of citius, altius, fortius is the decathlon for men, and the heptathlon for women, so a good case could be made for people like Daley Thompson, Roman Šebrle or Carolina Kluft. Then again, being top of your chosen sport over a long period might well be seen as a measure of greatness, and that brings Steve Redgrave into play - gold at five successive Olympics, although once again the point needs to be made that these were team rather than individual achievements. But my choice would be Emil Zatopek, if only for his refreshing "let's have a go and see what happens" approach. At the 1952 Olympics he was entered for the 5km and 10km races, both of which he duly won. But then, on a whim as it were, he decided to run in the marathon, never having run one before. There's a story that at about half distance, he turned to those he was running with, and asked "are we going fast enough?". Anyway, he won in what was then an Olympic record time. He must be the only person who for at least a short time had the marathon record of - Run 1, Won 1. For me, the fact that he was prepared to put his considerable reputation on the line for fun, as it were, makes him my personal Greatest Olympian.