Black athletes didn't win the marathon until 1960. It's impossible to picture now, but a black athlete didn't win the marathon until Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia did it in 1960. And he did it barefoot!!!
Abebe Bikila is the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal and the first man to win the Olympic marathon twice.
Bikila was added to the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave. Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Bikila went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he couldn't use them. A couple of hours before the race, Bikila decided to run barefoot, the way he'd trained for the race.
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