Abebe Bikila wins marathon in 1960 Rome Olympics... barefoot.

50 years ago in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila won the marathon event, 24 years after Mussolini had conquered his homeland of Ethiopia. He won in world record time (2:15:16) & becoming the first African to win an Olympic medal. Not only that, he did it barefoot (after they couldn't find a pair of shoes that fit him comfortably)! Mind you a lot of the streets here in Rome are cobblestone & since it was so hot the race was started at sunset & ended in the dark of night lit by Roman soldiers holding torches. He was a last minute replacement for the Ethiopian team & didn't even start running until he was 24. Evidently a few KM from the finish, Bikila saw the Obelisk of Axum, which invading Italian troops stole from Ethiopia during WWII (& only restored to Ethiopia in 2008). At this point Bikila was neck & neck with the Moroccan Rhadi, but wen he saw the obelisk he surged & Rhadi couldn't keep up.

Even though he had an appendectomy 40 days before the event & wasn't able to train or expected to even run it, he went on to win again in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, this time with shoes, becoming the first person to repeat gold in the marathon.

You might wonder what he could've done with "modern" training & equipment, but then again this also demonstrates the importance of natural talent & determination. The biomechanical efficiency of his stride is simply awe-inspiring

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Abebe Bikila
• marathon
• Rome 1960
• barefoot
• Olympics
• axum
• obelisk

[plattawabbe]

Wow, everything looked like Ben Hur back then.

[yosef61]

this was an amazing achievement for habesba people

[03hobie]

Night olympics looked so amazing.

[nmk621]

This just proves that not only that the Ethiopians can beat anybody in a marathon but can beat them BAREFOOT. The moment Bikila won the marathon was the moment that probably the Italians regretted even conquering Ethiopia in 1935 because NOBODY MESSES WITH ETHIOPIA. I'm so happy to be a habesha and proud of it. God bless Abebe Bikila and his whole family. For he's a everyday reminder that we can accomplish anything in any situation for habeshas like me. God bless.

[TheElliotGreen]

@Evi1M4chine

It's because everyone else had shoes, and that's why people make a big deal out of this. Shoot, I'd way rather run 26 miles with shoes than without, given the fact that I could even run 26 miles.

[llammaas]

2409 we meet again...

[hrsegirl]

5cense - "modern" training & equipment probably would have ruined him.

[raullopezmarcelo]

Realmente Impresionante ABEBE BIKILA una LEYENDA DEL ATLETISMO EN LA RAMA DE MARATON todo lo que se diga en elogios es poco para lo que este hombre fue capaz de lograr ganar la olympiada descalzo en 1960 y repetir el exito en 1964 esta vez con zapatillas UNA LEYENDA DE LA MARATON DEL SIGLO 20.

RAUL LOPEZ

[Evi1M4chine]

Funny how people act like it’s not normal to run barefoot. When we’re born without shoes and our feet have specifically evolved over millions of years to do exactly this.

[mc1703]

why don't they run the olympic marathon at night any more? the atmosphere must have been amazing!

[rahulviveka2]

Wow