A nice wee story for a Thursday. Ron Clarke was an Australian runner who, despite having set eighteen world records and having been chosen to light the Olympic flame in 1956 as a promising 19 year old, had only ever won a bronze medal in the Olympics. He visited Czechoslovakia, where his host was the great Emil Zatopek, who had also set eighteen world records but had won four Olympic gold medals. Clarke said: Emil looked after me wonderfully; nothing was too much trouble. He took me to Prague airport and, as he escorted me onto the plane, handed me a small packet with whispered instructions not to open it until I was out of Czech airspace. All he added was not out of friendship, but because you deserve it. I wondered whether I was smuggling something out for him. I retired to the privacy of the lavatory. When I unwrapped the box, there, inscribed with my name and that days date, was Emils Olympic 10,000m gold medal. I sat on that toilet seat and I wept.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:47:07 +0000
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