The Marathon hero Abebe Bikila

Captain Abebe Bikila was born in 1933 in jato farm village in the northern part of Shewa. As a young man he was interested in the traditional sports of the day in his village.

After his, recruitment into the former imperial Body Guard in 1953, he started winning a national athletic event, and as Le became capable of improving his performance with unerring regularity, he was nominated as member of the Ethiopian Olympic team.

In the 1960 Rome Olympics Abebe, in his first Olympic competition achieved something that had never been scored, and for some practical reasons might not be done again. He ran the entire marathon race bare-footed and won it. Not only did he win, but also clipped a solid of seven minutes from the record that had been set by Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia.

In 1964 Tokyo was lucky to witness another historic moment in marathon. Abebe did it again and at this time he was racing, with himself, running alone by far a distant with no one nearby him, and won the marathon race for the second time in a row. The ecstatic Country named him “Hurrach” i. e. “Abebe the great”,

From the beginning up to the time he ceased competing in marathon, Abebe had participated in more than twenty-two marathon races among which he stood first in fifteen of them and got the prizes.

In 1968, he was on the starting line in Mexico City to begin the marathon race. He ran the first fifteen kms with all the great athletes, but was forced to with draw due to muscle contraction he had be-, fore, and it was the last Olympics for him.

In 1469 a car accident let; this athlete paralyzed down the waist. But was only, his legs that were paralyzed, not the competitive spirit of his indomitable heart in the sport festival for the handicapped held in Great Britain, Abebe received a, special award in archery, and in Norway he got a gold medal in sledge race.

This great athlete died in 1974. He is survived by great athlete. belie Bikila. It was not a surprise when the international Olympic Committee president on his recent visit to Ethiopia, presented the Silver medal of Pierre de Coubertin to Abe ‘s If anybody deserves such an honor, it is Abebe whose name is at all immortal.