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Examples
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I admired Abebe Bikila for the sheer courage of running the marathon through the streets of Rome barefooted, and for doing it in the capital city of
David Maraniss discusses Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World. 2010
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Just as the traditional basketball "high top" has begun to go "low top" thanks to Kobe Bryant, so the world of running has paid attention to the trend toward "barefoot," initiated by gold-medal-winning marathoner Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia in 1960 in the Rome Olympics, and popularized again with Christopher McDougall's book "Born to Run" in 2009.
The Great Sneaker Revival Tina Gaudoin 2011
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Abebe Bikila wins the Olympic Marathon in Rome, running the entire distance barefoot.
Long May You Run Chris Cooper 2010
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In the 1960 Rome Olympics, Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic medal when he finished first in the marathon—running barefoot.
Long May You Run Chris Cooper 2010
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Four years later, wearing shoes and socks in Tokyo, Bikila became the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in the marathon:
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Best line: Rambali explains why Bikila ran barefoot in Rome, though he provides no source for it.
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Bikila died of a brain hemorrhage in his early 40s, which may help to explain why no definitive biography of him has appeared, nearly a half century after he struck gold in Rome.
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“Bikila was so euphoric that it mattered not if the band could not find the score for the Ethiopian national anthem … and played the Japanese anthem instead,” David Miller writes in Athens to Athens.
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He says that when Bikila, among other runners, went to the Adidas stand in the Olympic village to get shoes, there were no shoes that fit him: His big toes were too large and his outside toes too small.
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Four years later, wearing shoes and socks in Tokyo, Bikila became the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in the marathon:
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