Abebe Bikila Won the Rome Marathon Barefoot Because His Shoes Hurt

On 10 September 1960, the marathon at the Rome Olympics started at 5:30 p.m. to dodge the worst of the heat and ended after dark, the route through the city lit by Italian soldiers carrying torches. Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia crossed the line at the Arch of Constantine in 2:15:16.2 — a world record and an Olympic record. He was the last entry on his country's roster, called up only because another runner pulled out. His shoes were on someone else's feet.

The Adidas team had brought leftover stock to the Games. Bikila tried a pair on the day before the race; they didn't fit, blistered him, and he decided to run without them, the way he had trained at altitude in Addis Ababa. He had grown up running barefoot. He saw no reason to change for Rome.

The field included Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco, who Bikila and his coach Onni Niskanen had identified as the man to beat. They'd been told Rhadi was wearing bib number 26. Rhadi was actually wearing 185. For most of the race Bikila was looking for the wrong shirt, and as a result kept putting on surges to find a man who was already next to him.

Four years later in Tokyo, in shoes this time and forty days after an appendectomy, Bikila ran 2:12:11.2 and became the first runner to win two Olympic marathons. Asked in Rome why he had run barefoot, he gave the answer he'd give in different forms for the rest of his life: he wanted Ethiopia to be seen winning on its own terms.