% The fabulous Emil Zatopek (shown here leading the fe Sta pack in a race in London) has hung up. his running spikes. The greatest distance runner of all time, holder of four Olympic gold medals, with five world records still to his eredit, Emil will now devote his attention to the train- ing of youngsters. Gert Whyte s SPORTLIGHT SH US take time out this week to pay tribute to Emil Zatopek, who has re- tired from active competition at the age of 35, after 17 years as a track star. In these ‘hectic — days, when records are made one month only to be broken in the next, it is interesting to note that of the 18 world rec- ords set by Zatopek, five still stand (48:12 for 10. miles; 59:51.6 for 20,000 metres; 1:14.01 for 15 miles; 1:16:36.4 for 25,000. metres; 12 miles 810 yards for one hour). Every decade has its sports hero.. The_ rubber - legged Czech, with his triple gold medal performance at the 1952 Olympics (5,000 and 10,000 metres, marathon) may well be remembered as the greatest track star of the 1950’s. A dispatch from Prague gives some of the highlights of Zatopek’s career. I quote: Born on September 19, 1922, a son of a carpenter in the little town of Koprivnice, in Northern Moravia, Zatopek hoped to become a school- master. But because of hard times he was sent in his early teens to nearby Zlin, where he worked as an apprentice in a big shoe firm. In 1941, when 19, he was pressed into taking part in a race through the streets of town. He surprised everyone —an none more than himself —by finishing ‘second. His performance impressed a coach, and so-began a fabu- lous track career’ which has no, equal in the colorful his- tory of athletics. The slim, balding runner, with the awkward, agonized style, won four Olympic titles, rewrote the record book and endeared himself to crowds ‘from Europe to India, from Melbourne to Brazil. In’ 1948 he won his first Olympic title in the 10,000 metres in the London Games; in 1952 captured three gold medals, at Helsinki, Zatopek made a winning exit from the sport he has graced for 17 years. He won the international cross-country race in San Sebastian two months ago. A lieuenant-colonel in the Czechoslovak Army, Zatopek will now be given a responsi- bile army post in the sport and physical culture field, training young athletes. Centennial bicycle race expectel to draw entries from many centté : io ; " VICTORIA—Entries from every, community in British Columbia have ber ict or the Centennial Bicycle Race to be staged on Vancouver Island June 7 by the Daily Times. It has been - ist and of, ayes ke sugested that each community should select its best cyclist n° 1 nim for the big race, in which riders will be competing in two events for what m4) offered amateur athletes in Canada this year: finest individual prizes being Expec’ed to attract the largest number of entrants is a 40-mile novice event from Duncan to Victoria that will yield a trip to the 1958 base- ball world series to the winner. On the same morning, Am- erican and Canadian pedal- pushers will be chasing a first prize of a CPA polar flight to the 1958 world ama- teur world cycling champion- ships in East Germany in a 100 - mile open event from Parksville to Victoria. Total value of prizes in the two events will be more than $2,500, At -least 12 awards will be at stake in the 100-miler, which is open to all amateur riders. Entrants in the Dun- can to Victoria event, which is limited to B.C. riders with no previous bicycle racing ex- perience, will be battling for at least 10 major prizes. While the beginners must use bicycles of not less than 26 pounds in weight, equip- ped: with standard-type tires of at least one and a quarter inches wide and gears capable of not more than three speeds, riders in the open event may use any racing equipment. The Vancouver Island races will launch the busiest racing season in many years for B.C. cyclists. Highlighting other meets scheduled during the the Province’s centennial year will be British Empire Games trials, Canadian and North American track championships at Vancouver and a Tour-of- B.C. road race. Handle-bar enthusiasts are hoping that the sport is on its way back toward the import- ance it enjoyed three decades ago when Victoria’s Torchy Peden was starting his bril- liant career. The big redhead was a standout on the world’s professional circuits for almost 20 years and still holds the all-time world record for Vic- tories in in six-day races. Peden, who won 38 of 148 six-day grinds before retiring in 1948 — 36 of them in his first 100 races — plans to come from his Minneapolis home for the June 7 events. One of the bicycle world’s all-time greats Peden (left) will attend the Centennial races to PE on Vancouver Island June 7. Photo at right shows 2 e . wheeler at Brockton Point in 1902, when bike racing ot the most popular Canadian sports. Plan summit meetin? in 1958 sports even” --NEW YORK — Though it comes smack perwert gh Melbourne Olympics of 1956 and the Rome Olympie o so this year of 1958 will see more international sports com: he than any other year in history. And co-existence wi big gainer. Already U.S. track fans in New York, Philly and Boston have cheered a Pole, Yugoslav and. Hungarian as they achieved spectacular successes despite - ho previous back- ground on the indoor boards. : The last part of. the athletic #ron curtain, which had_ its Sole address in Washington went down the drain maha the great triple world record holder, Istan Rozsavolgyi, got his U.S. visa after an attempt to bar him because he had the “nerve” to ge back to his Own country after the Mel- bourne games! With interest in interna- tonal Sports soaring, here’s a little informal. resume of who’s best in what. The Soviet Union now stands as tops in overall team performance in amateur sports, with victories in the last Summer and Winter Olympics. In men’s track and field, however, the U.S. is still safely supreme. 2 In the world’s most uni- versal and popular team sport, soccer, nobody knows who is best any more. The world A Be . ( sort % 1 pe ao july: 7p if championship wil in Stockholm it The U.S. rates toP® ketball, archery, y och rowing and figure sale though the Russians ioe be coming fast in ry My In wrestling it’s oft v Russians, followed Turks, who make vnete sport world dent 1? Ley and grapple gam@ oy, Weightlifting, wi? 4 # between the E gs is" USSR for years, seem “oot finally settled oP the side. The Russians Msi the U.S. in May 10% YF Detroit and New Yor" In ice hockey Canad® gf of the game, is clean if you don’t bicker # ot and amateur. On the a front, the amazing gi provide top flight cop ‘po Boxing is all US: of not necessarily iD eae teurs, where Poland * j USSR share honors: «4 In “summit mee sai the best teams wil) aus ah yy iia jst all, may the teams tries meet in petition nevermoreé ed by war! # PACTE)