Other runners sniggered when they saw Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila before
the Olympic marathon with no shoes. As a television camera scanned the
scrum of athletes readying themselves for the starter’s gun, a
commentator asked, “And what’s this Ethiopian called?”
It was 1960, Rome. Africa was shrugging off the weight of colonial rule. Some officials still doubted if the Africans were ready for the big stage. A little over 2 hours 15 minutes later a slight man, wearing number 11, shattered the myth. His gliding, barefoot run through Rome’s cobblestone streets announced his continent’s emergence as a running powerhouse.
Interestingly, he did try on a pair of shoes before the race , but they didn’t fit comfortably. So, a couple of hours before the race, he decided to run barefoot. That’s the way he’d trained.
By the 20km mark, Bikila and his main rival Rhadi Ben Abdesselam had drawn clear of the pack and stayed together until the final 500m. The skinny Bikila flew by the soldiers standing with flaming torches along the darkening course that evening. Slowly he pulled away from his Moroccan opponent before crossing the finish line at the Arch of Constantine in a world-record time of 2:15:16. With his 26-second win over Rhadi, Bikila had become the first black African to win a gold medal in Olympic history. Asked later why he ran barefoot, Bikila answered, “I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism.”
Bikila’s triumph was all the more stunning because it happened in the capital of Ethiopia’s former military occupier, Italy. After his twin marathon wins, filled with hubris and alcohol, his body betrayed him. He failed in Mexico in ‘68, was paralysed in a car accident and died a few years later at the age of 41.
It was 1960, Rome. Africa was shrugging off the weight of colonial rule. Some officials still doubted if the Africans were ready for the big stage. A little over 2 hours 15 minutes later a slight man, wearing number 11, shattered the myth. His gliding, barefoot run through Rome’s cobblestone streets announced his continent’s emergence as a running powerhouse.
Interestingly, he did try on a pair of shoes before the race , but they didn’t fit comfortably. So, a couple of hours before the race, he decided to run barefoot. That’s the way he’d trained.
By the 20km mark, Bikila and his main rival Rhadi Ben Abdesselam had drawn clear of the pack and stayed together until the final 500m. The skinny Bikila flew by the soldiers standing with flaming torches along the darkening course that evening. Slowly he pulled away from his Moroccan opponent before crossing the finish line at the Arch of Constantine in a world-record time of 2:15:16. With his 26-second win over Rhadi, Bikila had become the first black African to win a gold medal in Olympic history. Asked later why he ran barefoot, Bikila answered, “I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism.”
Bikila’s triumph was all the more stunning because it happened in the capital of Ethiopia’s former military occupier, Italy. After his twin marathon wins, filled with hubris and alcohol, his body betrayed him. He failed in Mexico in ‘68, was paralysed in a car accident and died a few years later at the age of 41.
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