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Abebe
BIKILA
The
Barefoot Runner |
Abebe Bikila was born in Ethiopia on 7 August 1932, the day of
the Los Angeles Olympic marathon. Twenty-eight years later, he
entered the marathon at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He and his
coach, Onni Niskanen, decided that Bikila, who ran barefooted,
should make his final move a little more than one kilometre
from the finish line. It was at this point that the course
passed the obelisk of Axum, a monument that had been plundered
from Ethiopia by Italian troops and hauled away to Rome. When
Bikila reached the obelisk, he was running even with Rhadi Ben
Abdesselem of Morocco. Bikila successfully pulled away and won
by 200m. Although no one had ever won the marathon twice,
Bikila returned to the Olympics in 1964, even though he had
undergone an appendectomy 40 days before the race. This time
he ran with shoes and socks. Bikila took a clear lead by the
halfway mark and steadily pulled away to win by more than four
minutes. His time, 2 hours 12 minutes 11.2 seconds, was a
world best for the marathon. |
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