Abebe Bikila was born in Ethiopia on 7 August 1932, the day oftheLos Angeles Olympic marathon. Twenty-eight years later, heenteredthe marathon at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He and hiscoach, OnniNiskanen, decided that Bikila, who ran barefooted,should make hisfinal move a little more than one kilometre fromthe finish line. Itwas at this point that the course passed theobelisk of Axum, amonument that had been plundered from Ethiopiaby Italian troops andhauled away to Rome.

When Bikila reached theobelisk, he was runningeven with Rhadi Ben Abdesselem of Morocco.Bikila successfullypulled away and won by 200m. Although no onehad ever won themarathon twice, Bikila returned to the Olympics in1964, even thoughhe had undergone an appendectomy 40 days beforethe race. This timehe ran with shoes and socks. Bikila took aclear lead by the halfwaymark and steadily pulled away to win bymore than four minutes. Histime, 2 hours 12 minutes 11.2 seconds,was a world best for themarathon.

　　阿贝贝·比基拉1932年8月7日出生于埃塞俄比亚，那一天恰好是洛杉矶奥运会马拉松比赛的日子。28年后，他参加了1960年罗马奥运会的马拉松比赛。光脚参赛的比基拉和他的教练欧尼·尼斯坎恩赛前商定，在距终点1公里多的地方开始冲刺。计划发起冲刺的那个地点树立着阿克萨姆方尖碑，是意大利军队从埃塞俄比亚运回罗马的战利品。当比基拉到达方尖碑的时候，他和摩洛哥选手雷迪·本·阿布德塞兰并驾齐驱。之后，他成功地实现了超越，以200米的优势赢得胜利。从来没有任何一个选手获得过两次奥运会马拉松冠军，但是到了1964年，比基拉还是再次来到奥运会，比赛前40天他才刚刚做完阑尾切除的手术。这一次，比基拉穿上了鞋子和袜子，跑到一半的时候，他就确立了绝对领先的地位，并且一直保持到最后，以4分多钟的优势赢得胜利。

　　2小时12分11秒2，他创下了当时的马拉松比赛最好成绩。小 文（来源：中国体育报）