Abebe Bikila: The First Black African Olympic Gold Medalist

On a warm night in Rome in 1960, a barefoot Ethiopian runner made history and stunned the world. Abebe Bikila, the son of a shepherd, became the first Black African to win an Olympic gold medal, forever changing the landscape of athletics and bringing pride to Africa.

The streets of Rome were filled with spectators cheering for the marathon runners during the Olympic Games. Among them was Bikila, wearing red satin shorts and a black vest, running alongside the marathon favorite, Morocco’s Rhadi Ben Abdesselem. With less than a mile to go, Bikila began to pull ahead, raising his hands in triumph as he crossed the finish line.

Not only did Bikila win the race, but he also set a new world record of two hours, 15 minutes, and 16 seconds. His victory was particularly astonishing because he ran the entire marathon barefoot. Bikila chose to run without shoes because his running shoes had worn out, and he didn’t want to risk blisters from new ones.

“Normally, champions rise up the rankings, and by the time they reach the top, they are already well-known. But nobody knew who Bikila was,” said Tim Judah, a British writer who authored a book about the runner. “This added to the shock of a barefoot African winning the marathon.”Bikila returned home as a national hero, with thousands of people coming out to greet him. His victory held more significance beyond Ethiopia. It symbolized the decolonization era and Africa’s emergence on the world stage. “This was a period of decolonization and the arrival of Africa on the global scene,” Judah remarked. “In that sense, Bikila was a shooting star of hope and a symbol of the era.”

Upon his return, Emperor Haile Selassie awarded Bikila the Star of Ethiopia, promoted him to the rank of corporal, and gifted him a house and a Volkswagen Beetle.

Bikila’s legacy grew with his second Olympic gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he became the first person to win back-to-back gold medals in the marathon, setting another world record despite undergoing an emergency appendectomy just weeks before the event.

In March 1969, Bikila’s life took a tragic turn when he was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. Despite this, he remained active in sports, participating in archery and table tennis, and competing in the Stoke Mandeville Games, a precursor to the Paralympics.

Abebe Bikila passed away in 1973 at the age of 41. He was honored with a state funeral and a National Day of Mourning declared by Emperor Haile Selassie. Today, Bikila’s legacy lives on, inspiring generations of long-distance runners across East Africa, including legends like Haile Gebrselassie and Eliud Kipchoge.

“We [African runners] are the result of Abebe Bikila. Because of Abebe Bikila, I became a world-class athlete,” Gebrselassie stated. Getnet Wale, representing Ethiopia in the 3000m steeplechase at the Paris Olympics, called Bikila a “trailblazer.”