quote:
1960 Summer Olympics
Bikila was added to the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave, as a replacement for Wami Biratu, who had broken his ankle in a soccer match. Major Onni Niskanen entered Bikila and Mamo Wolde in the marathon.
Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Bikila went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he couldn't use them. A couple of hours before the race the decision was taken by Abebe to run barefoot, the way he'd trained for the race. Bikila was warned by Niskanen about his main rivals, one of whom was Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morocco, who was supposed to wear number 26. For unknown reasons, Rhadi did not acquire his black marathon bib before the race, and instead was wearing his regularly assigned track and field bib number 185.
The late afternoon race had its start point and finish at the Arch of Constantine, just outside the Colosseum. At the start of the race the Australian Ron Clarke made a comment to Bikila about running barefoot.
During the race Bikila passed numerous runners, looking for the runner with number 26. By about 20 km, Bikila and the runner with number 185 had created a gap from the rest of the pack. Bikila kept looking forward to find the runner with number 26, who unbeknownst to Bikila was running right beside him. They stayed together until the last 500 m, when Abebe sprinted to the finish line. Bikila won in a record time of 2:15:16.2, becoming the first African to win an Olympic gold medal. He finished 26 seconds ahead of Rhadi.
After the race, when Bikila was asked why he had run barefoot, he replied, “I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism."
Niskanen later speculated that if Rhadi hadn’t competed in the 10,000 m race several days before, the race might have been closer.
1960 - 1964
Bikila returned to Ethiopia as a hero. Emperor Haile Selassie promoted him to the rank of corporal position and awarded him the Star of Ethiopia. Shortly after the Olympics General Mengistu Neway plotted a coup and Bikila, who didn’t understand politics, was forced to take part. Bikila refused to kill dignitaries and when the coup attempt failed all involved were sentenced to death by hanging. Bikila was pardoned by the Emperor after lobbying by numerous people.
In 1961 Bikila ran marathons in Greece, Japan and the City of Kosice in Czechoslovakia, all of which he won. Between October 1961 and April 1963 he did not compete in any international marathon. Bikila entered the 1963 Boston Marathon and finished in 5th place, the only time in his career that he finished a marathon and did not win. [2] He returned to Ethiopia and didn’t compete in another marathon until the marathon of Addis Ababa in 1964. He won this race, taking 2:23:14 to complete the course.
40 days prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, during a training run near Addis, Abebe Bikila started to feel pain. Unaware of the cause of the pain, he attempted to overcome this pain but collapsed. He was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. He was operated on and shortly thereafter, during the recovery period, he started jogging in the hospital courtyard at night.
1964 Summer Olympics
Abebe Bikila traveled to Tokyo but was not expected to compete. He did enter the marathon, this time wearing Asics shoes. He used the same strategy as in 1960: to stay with the leaders until the 20 km point, then slowly increase the pace. After 15 km he only had company from Ron Clarke of Australia and Jim Hogan, Ireland. Shortly before 20 km only Hogan was in contention and by 30 km he was 40 seconds in front of Hogan and exactly 2 minutes in front of Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan in third place. He entered the stadium alone to the cheers of 70,000 spectators. He finished the marathon in a new record time of 2:12:11:2, 4 minutes and 8 seconds in front of silver medalist Basil Heatley of Great Britain. Kokichi Tsuburaya was third. He was the first athlete in history to win the Olympic marathon twice. After finishing he astonished the crowd: not appearing exhausted, he started a routine of stretching exercises. He later stated that he could have run another 10 km
Ik noem een Tony van Heemschut,een Loeki Knol,een Brammetje Biesterveld en natuurlijk een Japie Stobbe !