The September 10th of 1960during the Rome Olympics, Abebe Bikila he won a medal that will forever remain in the history of sport. Born in 1932 in Ethiopia, he began his career almost by chance. At the age of twenty, in fact, he decided to enlist in the Imperial Guard, becoming a member of the emperor’s escort Haile Selassie. During this period, he was noticed by Omni Niskaena Swedish trainer responsible for preparing the soldiers of the Imperial Guard. Thus he entered the world of professionalism and, after just four years, Bikila was called up by his national team for the Olympic Games in Rome due to a last-minute injury to one of his compatriots: Wami Biratu. Already winner of the marathon in Addis Ababa (the Ethiopian capital), in Rome, and without shoeswas the first African athlete to win a gold medal, establishing the record in the marathon. Four years later, during the Tokyo Gamesconfirmed himself as champion (first in history to obtain two consecutive gold medals in the marathon at the Olympics) with a new record.
The greatness of the feat: why it is remembered
As much as they can be easily understood difficulty and the suffering of, not only finishing, but actually winning a marathon without shoes, the greatness of Abebe Bikila’s triumph is not limited to this. The Ethiopian athlete, as already mentioned, had only started training among professionals for four years and this, obviously, made the runner practically unknown. In his third career marathon and after just 10km, he managed to distance himself from almost all his opponents and from about halfway onwards, a real head-to-head with the Moroccan began Rhadi Ben Abdesselem who, in the last 500m, had to bow to the new world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes And 16 seconds of Abebe.
With his success Bikila brought his country to the top of the world. At the end of the match, in fact, during an interview he stated that Ethiopia had always won with determination and heroism. Upon his return to his homeland, the runner who stunned the sport was welcomed as a true racer hero. The Imperial Guard decided to promote him to the role of corporalassigned him one house and one machine with driver (since he didn’t drive).
He died in 1973 following some consequences linked to a serious accident that had paralyzed him from the waist down a few years earlier, leaving a living example of olympism And resilience to the whole world.
Because he wasn’t wearing shoes
Clearly, the detail that generates the most curiosity and interest when talking about Bikila’s great achievement is the fact that he ran for 42,195km without shoes. The reason behind his choice is, in reality, anything but extraordinary. Abebe, in fact, owned shoes given to him by the sponsor (Adidas) during the race. These, however, turned out to be too much narrow And uncomfortable and they had caused him great pain blisters. So he decided to take them off and run barefoot.
In March of 2010on the occasion of the sixteenth edition of the Rome Marathon dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of Bikila’s victory, another Ethiopian athlete triumphed: Siraj Gena. In order to pay homage to his compatriot’s historic achievement, Siraj also took off his shoes to complete the last 300 meters and cross the finish line.
