Paris 2024 Olympics: Abebe Bikila – the African runner who kept on making history

In 1960, on a warm night in Rome, a barefoot son of a shepherd stunned the world and made history for Africa.

That evening, the streets of the city were lined with spectators cheering for the marathon runners competing in the Olympic Games.

Along the road, Italian soldiers held torches to light the way as an Ethiopian runner named Abebe Bikila sprinted towards the finish line.

For most of the course, Bikila, in red satin shorts and a black vest, had been level with the marathon favourite, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morocco.

Then, with less than a mile to go, he began to pull away from his competitor. He sprinted towards the finish, raising his hands in triumph as he crossed the line.

Not only had he come first in the race, Bikila was also the first black African and the first Ethiopian to win a gold medal at the Games.

In doing so, he set a new world record of two hours, 15 minutes and 16 seconds.

It was a shock triumph, not just because Bikila was a complete unknown but because he had run the entire length of the race barefoot.

Bikila had made the decision to do so because his running shoes were worn and he feared a new pair would cause blisters.

“Normally champions rise up the rankings and so when they get to the top they are known, but Bikila was utterly unknown,” says Tim Judah, the British writer of a book about the runner.

“So this compounded the shock – a barefoot African winning the marathon.”