Trivia

Came from a family of farmers and was member of the Imperial Guard member of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie before succeeding in military competitions. After his victory in Rome, Selassie offered him a car, an apartment, and a pension for the rest of his life. However, when rebellion arose in the Emperor's Palace, all the Guard were killed. Abebe Bikila escaped from death thanks to the Emperor's intervention.

Considered the greatest marathon runner of all time.

First African to win an Olympics medal.

First ever to win the gold medal in two Olympic marathons.

In 1969, Bikila was in a tragic car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down for the remainder of his life. Bikila continued to be a national hero in Ethiopia, where many people made pilgrimages to visit him before his death in 1973.

In the famous 1960 Olympics, Bikila ran barefoot over the cobblestones of the Appian Way in Rome, Italy, to break Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zátopek's 1952 marathon record by nearly eight minutes.

Olympic runner, he set a new world record in the 1960 Olympics at 2:16:2 and then, in 1964 in Tokyo, he broke his own record by more than four minutes at 2:12:11, though still recovering from an appendix operation.

Following his untimely death, he was interred at Saint Joseph's Church Cemetery in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.