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CAREER
HIGHLIGHTS: 1960 & 1964 Olympic gold medals in the
Marathon
In
any debate about the greatest marathon runner of all time,
few would argue that anyone other than Abebe Bikila should
be accorded that honour.
Although
Bikila arrived at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome both
unheralded and virtually unknown, what Abebe and his coach
Onni Niskansen knew, but of which most of the world was
unaware, was that Bikila, in only his second marathon,
had recorded a time of 2hr 21min 23sec at the altitude
of Addis Ababa only one month prior to Rome.
In
the marathon at Rome, Bikila and Moroccan Rhadi ben Abdesellem,
who was making his debut at the distance, stayed with
a pack of more experienced runners in the early stages,
but by 20km, the pair had opened up a lead of 26 seconds.
The pair continued to increase their lead, staying together,
until with 500 metres remaining, Bikila sprinted clear
of Rhadi to win in a world's best time of 2hr 15min 16.2sec.
Bikila
became an instant celebrity after that, but although he
received many invitations to races, he only contested
five marathons between Rome and the following Olympic
Games in Tokyo, winning four of them. Bikila had undergone
an appendectomy only 40 days prior to the marathon in
Tokyo on 21 October, but he showed no ill effects from
it, as he, Ron Clarke (Australia), and Jim Hogan (Ireland)
led the field past 15km. Bikila broke free from the other
two just before the 20km mark, and then proceeded to run
away from the field in a great solo effort, winning by
over 4 minutes in a new world's best of 2hr 12min 11.2sec
to become the first athlete to win two Olympic marathons.
Bikila returned for his third Olympic marathon at Mexico
City in 1968, but retired after 17km. (Ron Casey)
copyright
© of George Herringshaw & sporting-heroes.net
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