Olympic champ Zatopkova dies at 97

PRAGUE: Dana Zatopkova, the 1952 Olympic javelin champion and wife of four-time Olympic champion Emil Zatopek, died at the age of 97 on Friday, the Czech Olympic Committee said.

“Czech sport has lost one of its greatest personalities,” the committee said in a statement. Besides the gold from the Helsinki Olympics, Zatopkova won the Olympic silver in Rome in 1960.

In 1958, she set the world record of 55.73 metres at the age of 35. She became the European champion in 1954 and 1958. Zatopkova was born on September 19, 1922, just like her husband Emil Zatopek, the 1948 Olympic champion in the 10,000 metres who went on to win the 5000m and 10000m races and the marathon at the Helsinki Games in 1952. Zatopek died in 2000.