Abebe Bikila Runs into History Barefoot

The bare feet are what people remember first. On September 10, 1960, Abebe Bikila ran the Olympic marathon through Rome without shoes and finished ahead of every other runner. Ethiopia had its first Olympic gold medal. Photographs turned the finish into an instantly recognizable sporting image, but they also encouraged a misleading idea: that a man had simply arrived from nowhere and outrun the world through natural ability alone.

Bikila was a soldier in Ethiopia’s Imperial Guard and a trained athlete. Working with the Swedish coach Onni Niskanen, he had followed a structured preparation program and proved himself in Ethiopian competition. The decision to race barefoot was not the absence of preparation. He was accustomed to running that way, and the available shoes did not suit him. What looked extraordinary to spectators was a choice made by a runner who understood his own body.