The barefoot African runner who made history at the Games and inspired a generation.
Abebe Bikila's two marathon wins began a gold rush for African distance runners who now dominate at the OlympicsIn 1960, on a warm night in Rome, a barefoot son of a shepherd stunned the world and made history for Africa.
Then, with less than a mile to go, he began to pull away from his competitor. He sprinted towards the finish, raising his hands in triumph as he crossed the line. “If you look what happened to Africa, independence started after Abebe Bikila won in Rome,” says the former Olympic and World Champion Ethiopian distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie.
To this day, Bikila remains one of only three runners, alongside Waldemar Cierpinski and Eliud Kipchoge, to have done so.Just 40 days before the event, Bikila had undergone an emergency operation to remove his appendix. But the runner was able to regain control of his hands, and so he turned to other sports – excelling in archery and table tennis.
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