Only about 42,000 meters to go...

July 24, 1952, 54 years ago today, Czechoslovakian distance-running legend Emil Zatopek won the 5,000 meters at the Olympic Games in Helsinki. In doing so, he completed the second leg of what may be the most astonishing athletic feat of the 20th century.

It was a thrilling race, as Zatopek went from fourth to first on the final curve, outsprinting the leader, Great Britain's Chris Chataway, who two years later would help pace Roger Bannister in his historic four-minute mile.

Earlier in the Helsinki Games, Zatopek had won his second consecutive gold medal in the 10,000 meters, so his victory in the 5,000 made him only the second man in Olympic history to win those two races at a single Games.

Of course, he was not finished.

Rumors abounded in Helsinki that Zatopek would attempt to run the marathon and complete an almost unthinkable distance-running triple. After the 5,000, Zatopek was coy with interviewers. Having learned that his wife, Dana, had won a gold medal that day in the javelin, he told reporters, "The score of the contest in the Zatopek family is 2-1. The result is too close."

Emil, whose contorted, pained expressions when he ran made him seem always on the verge of collapse ("I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time," he explained), had never run a marathon in his life before the 1952 Olympics. Nevertheless, he won it with ease. No one before or since has won the three long distance races at a single Olympics, and no one ever will. You choose your record - DiMaggio's streak, Ripken's streak, Gretsky's points - all will be equalled before Emil Zatopek's triple at the Helsinki Olympics.