Abebe Bikila

Abebe Bikila ( Amharic አበበ ቢቂላ, born August 7, 1932 in Jato, Ethiopia, † October 25, 1973 in Addis Ababa ) was an Ethiopian marathon runner and two-time Olympic champion.

Life

Abebe Bikila was born in 1932 in Jato (about 130 km northeast of Addis Ababa ) in Ethiopia. In 1944 he graduated from the traditional " Geez " school. At 20 he was employed by the imperial bodyguard. At 22 he married Yewibdar Giorghis, with whom he had four children. His athletic talent was discovered late in military occasions when he was in a parade of Ethiopian athletes who were later to take part in the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, present.

Career

The national military championships him in 1956, his first surprise success came when he defeated Wami Biratu who held at that time in Ethiopia, the records in the 5000m and 10,000 m. As a result, Abebe also broke the national records in the 5000m and 10,000 m. With these impressive results he failed to qualify for the Olympic Summer Games in Rome in 1960. Add 2:15:16 where he won the marathon, setting a new world record and became the first Olympic medal for Africa in the history of the Olympic Games, where he completed the course put only athlete barefoot. Reason for this was that his shoes, which he had brought from Ethiopia, were gone through and any shoes in Rome not well adapting to his feet. So Abebe decided to run barefoot, just as he had done all his life in Ethiopia. In subsequent studies of its coach Onni Niskanen Finland showed that the Ethiopian long-distance runner actually runs faster without shoes than with. Despite these facts, some still speculate that Abebe Bikila 's just walked barefoot to bring closer situation and living conditions in Ethiopia in the Western world.

At the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964, he repeated, now with shoes, his success of 1960 and presented again with 2:12:11 set a world record, even though he had to undergo six weeks before the race an appendectomy. He was the first runner who achieved a follow-up victory in the marathon at the Olympic Games - what only Waldemar Cierpinski managed by him. Immediately after the race led Bikila demonstratively a loosening and stretching program before and said he could easily have run two minutes faster.

Trying to win a third gold medal at the Summer Olympics in 1968 in Mexico City, failed because he had 15 km to quit the race because of a stress fracture. Overall, he played in his career 26 marathons.

Last years

On March 22, 1969, he was severely injured in a car accident and since then has been a paraplegic. For nine months, he was treated in Ethiopia and abroad. Although he was in a wheelchair, he never lost his competitive spirit. In 1970 he took - actually invited as spectators - on a sled race in Norway, where he won the gold medal over 25 km and 10 km. He also participated in the World Games of Disabled Persons in 1970 in the archery part and was ranked 9th

Abebe Bikila died in 1973 of a cerebral hemorrhage, which was still in connection with his accident. At his funeral 65,000 people published, Emperor Haile Selassie proclaimed an official day of mourning. Bikilas final resting place is the graveyard of St. Joseph 's Church in Addis Ababa.

In his honor, a stadium in the Ethiopian capital was named after him. In Italy, named in Ladispoli, Province of Rome, a bridge to the successful athletes. In 2012 he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame.