Finland made a legend of an amiable
Czechoslovak army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold
and silver medals from 1948.
What he learned from Zátopek wasn't running style and form, but that
the key to success in running was rigorous year-round training to build up endurance.
Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about halfway, slowly dropping
the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.
Zátopek, on the other hand, advocated continual intense
interval training and felt the more you stressed the body the better, so long as you let it heal up sufficiently between training sessions.
Zátopek won Gold at those Games in the 5,000 meter,
10,000 meter and the marathon(the latter being the first he would ever competed in, entering on a whim at the last minute).
Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly
dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.