The peerless Abebe Bikila

(July 05, 2012, The Hindu)--Perhaps no other marathon runner has captured the imagination of the fans as Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia — who was the first runner to win two marathons in the Olympic Games. Bikila, son of a shepherd, was born on August 7, 1932, in a small village. As a teenager he decided to join the Imperial Bodyguard in order to earn some money and trekked all the way to the capital Addis Ababa to sign up as a recruit.

It was then that he got involved in competitive athletics and his potential was soon spotted by a Swedish coach who put him on a training regimen to turn him into a marathon runner. Later he was selected for the Rome Olympics but when he tried out his new shoes he found them uncomfortable. So he decided to run barefoot which he had done all his life.

As the race began, Bikila gradually moved to the front of the pack and sought out Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco who was one of the favourites.

Keen tussle

At the half way mark Bikila and Rhadi had opened up a gap from the rest of the pack and it was clear that the fight for the gold would be between these two. It was a keen tussle till the last kilometre when Bikila put in an extra effort and charged ahead to win in 2 hours 15 minutes and 16.2 seconds. Rhadi finished 25 seconds behind him.

Later Bikila ran several more marathons, most of which he won. But just before the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 he had to undergo an appendicitis operation. Impatient to get back to training, he began jogging in the hospital courtyard at night even before he had fully recovered. His determination saw him winning the title again (this time with shoes on). 

But tragedy struck him in 1969 when he was involved in a car crash which left him in a wheelchair. The man who had won two Olympic marathons could not even walk a few yards. He died of cerebral haemorrhage in 1973 but his life served to inspire a whole new generation of long distance runners from Ethiopia who have made their country a power to reckon with in the sport.

Source: The Hindu

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