born Sept. 19, 1922, Kopřivnice, Czech.
died Nov. 22, 2000, Prague, Cz.Rep.
Czech long-distance runner.
He won his first Olympic gold medal in 1948 in the 10,000-m race. At the 1952 Olympics he won gold medals in the 5,000-m, 10,000-m, and marathon. From the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s he set 18 world records, and he held the record for the 10,000-m from 1949 to 1954.