How Bikila won an Olympic Marathon barefoot! | Strangest Moments 

"I want the world to know that my country Ethiopia always won with determination and heroism." Abebe Bikila RIP my Hero

Barefoot and scorching cement? The guy's a monster.

I don't know him before this video, i'm not even ethiopian, but i am so proud of him idk 😂

This weirdly lighthearted take on Abebe Bikila's achievement skips blithely over the fact that he grew up in an Ethiopia occupied by Mussolini's Italy after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1935-9. As a young boy he had to flee with his family to a remote part of the country and spent a chunk of his childhood under Italian imperial rule. Only a couple of decades later, here he was in the capital of that former invader, running barefoot past the ruins of an older Roman empire. Those torches lighting the Appian Way during the marathon were held by Italian soldiers. Quite what extra frisson it all held for him can only be imagined, and one might guess there was a certain extra satisfaction for Haile Selassie - the Ethiopian emperor exiled during the war and occupation - when he honoured Abebe afterwards. Strange and sad irony, though, in Bikila being given a VW Beetle by his grateful nation to celebrate his Olympic victory - in 1969 he crashed it, leaving him paralysed and unable ever to walk again, let alone run, and ultimately leading to his early death at only 41. Even in a wheelchair, mind, he competed at the 1970 Stoke Mandeville Games, predecessor of the Paralympics. What an athlete he was.

To think Bikila would've immediately dropped down to last if there had been a lego on the course

Records were broken at every Olympics. Records are meant to be broken. But running bare footed were not even attempted by any other marathon runners after him not to mention winning the gold medal in doing so. Extremely rare talent.

That, to me, is the most astonishing athletic achievement by any athlete in any sport.

ABEBE BIKILA is the finest marathon runner ever. I was a teenager, when he won in Rome Olympic. He repeated this feat in 1964 Tokyo Olympic too. He remains my alltime legendary hero. A big salute to him. 👌👌👌👍👍👍

"I want to world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism" 💕 this phase hit me hard, anythings in this world can be achieved if you are determine

Mr. Bikila- what a man on the planet! He aptly taught the world that determination is key to success. Two back to back Olympic gold medals, respective of the fact he tried to run a marathon after the age of 24. Just incredible, salute to him.

His mental strength to tolerate pain is just incredible

Excellent..cannot get enough of this channel

3:51 I dont think he was dancing, he was warming down

Someone should make a movie out of that..

This is what legends are made of!

He is a legend, a true hero! 👣 😰😰 R.I.P ❤️❤️ Lots of love, from Brazil.

To this day there is no one who could make push ups after running 42 km! Abebe Bikila is an amazing person with too much energy!

Bikila House was one of the competition 'houses' in the junior college I taught in. I'd often ask students assigned to that House if they knew who Bikila was. None I asked knew, and I had to point them to the library to find out (those were pre-internet days).

The people that made this video called this incredible history of a legend" strange thing" he cleared the way for every black athletes. It's a crime how underrated he is.🖤🖤Much love and respect💚💛❤

This is an amazing story and worthy of a ninety minute documentary. I find it hilarious that he ran barefoot simply because he found all shoes offered to him uncomfortable. I can't help but wonder if it was simply down to his secret sponsorship deal with Puma which persuaded him into shoes at the next Olympics?

Watching this now, 2021, never knew about Bikila, much respect to him.

Africans r very talented, wow very inspiring

As a marathon runner myself I've really taken note of how running shoes have altered our running gait in a really negative way. It totally makes us do heel Strikes which is not efficient and not good for our bodies either. Running Barefoot makes you strike the top of your foot first rather than coming down on your heel. A lot of the Ethiopian runners have got a natural gate where they strike with the top of their foot first. This is why Minimalist Shoes have come out recently to keep people from striking with her heels

NOT strange but rather brave1 The video undermines the achievement of his excellency!!!

He just became my inspiration

growing as a kid I remember the olympics black and white coverage "live via satellite". I remember this guy winning two in a row, once barefoot. It just seemed incredible. If you look at his times, he was running like 2:15 marathons.

To think that he dominated in Italy, the same country that attempted to dominate Ethiopia a few decades earlier

No words. What Abebe bekele had done should be taught. That's what we call a real hero. Proud of what had done. Much love.

God bless you and Ethiopia, such a humble athlete with brilliant talent 👌💕💖🙏

**Steps on a tiny rock**

He truelly is my hero. Running bare foot and winning ...he is amazing. So proud to be an Ethiopian. Love and respect for him.

Shoe: you better wear me, you need me. Abebe : No

Barefoosh

Take a bow, the bare foot legend 🙏

Nessuno come lui si certo oggi hanno record migliori ma per me l'emblema del piu grande maratoneta e' lui Abebe Bikila !

‘Off to Rome,and the shoes were left in Addis Ababa!’..🤣🤣🤣

1964 Tokyo: well, i know i can win barefoot... let us see if i can win with shoes on

Commentary sounds like an Irish woman trying to do an American accent

Abebe Bikila is indeed an inspiration of the generations of African athlets.

"If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?" Joe Namath Amazing story of determination and heroism in the face of a grave impediment.

All times Ethiopian, African hero Abebe Bikila. No one can run marathon like him. We Love you and remember you Abebe!

Thanks for keeping the correct aspect ratio !!

He is a LEGEND!!!

🤴 king legend BIKILA watching in nov/2020🇯🇵🇧🇷🇺🇸

dam they straight up roasted the roman empire in the first 20 seconds

This is incredible footage from the 60s!

He looked so determined on his last 500 meters

That's crazy!! And definitely wouldn't occur these days😬🤘🏼but wow

Good on him.... what a champion.

His determination was really wonderful. Excellent.

Abebe is a Legend 🇪🇹⚔️🇪🇹

Thank you!!!

Who else is binge watching these?

No one can do what Abebe Bekila do what a legend

Bikila it is an inspiration for many athletes around the world

#17 👣 THE LEGEND 👣🇪🇹🇪🇹

I was lucky to meet this wonderful guy when he competed in the paraplegic games at stoke mandeville hospital following a car crash

Growing up in Ethiopia, I saw some runners in the early morning (around 6 am) endurance running, and a few tended to do it without any shoes. It's not a big deal for us

He broke Emil’s record and I came here from Emil’s video

I enjoyed this 😊

How inspiring the story is!!!

"Every runner determined to finish a marathon deserves a medal, but there are only three medals", a journalist during Tokyo 1964. Finishing bare foot with new record is unheard of in Olympics history except Roma. The story of Abebe Bikila deserves a full documentary!

I only run for sports meet and I usually run barefoot on a gravel running track ( we didn't have a proper running track or sports equipment in school back then). I never felt uncomfortable, because I only wear shoes when I go outdoors so my soles are rough not as thin as the westerns soles.

The cobblestones were indeed not a problem for his "feesh".

i don hv words to this man he is the proud for ethiopia

RIP our Ethiopian African hero

I can't even walk to get my mail without shoes.

So many amazing records and facts here: 1st black African to win a gold medal His 1st Olympic appearance Last minute stand in who wasn't supposed to run Won in bare feet against runners with shoes Former body guard of the Ethiopian emperor First considered running in the Olympics only 4 years before he won the Gold Extra trivia: The previous Olympic record Bikila beat was by Zapotek, who made a last minute decision to run the marathon race in the 1952 Olympics after having won gold in both the 5K and 10K. It was his first ever marathon.

Salute Sir

not to mention that roads are really rough and could cause foot injuries

Imagine finish behind him

Amazing ♥️

wow............true hero

He didn't get a shoe that size him to run the race,but that doesn't stop from achieving his dream. The lesson I learnt from ABEBE BIKILA is that don't wait for the perfect time,he that wait for the perfect time waits forever.

4:04 indeed! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!

Love this!

He did the impossible for the upgrading of the media and the country 🇪🇹

Amazing

Legend

💯 hero! 😍

Onni Niskanen is a Finnish name and he was born in Helsinki the capital of Finland, of course later he moved to Sweden but even then he was not considered swedish but swedish-finnish...

I run cross country I am in 7th grade and I it’s only 100 girls run and I got 1st before and my least place was 9th and I wasn’t run for living I love it forever and track is starting trmoww so wish me luck

waw Weltrekord .....super gemacht🏆💃👣 Abebe Bikile hat es Verdient ❤💪👍👍👍💋👑🌞

I thought running 5km barefoot for my schools cross country was tough, can’t image 42km and winning it!!

맨발로 달리는 것도 놀라운데 우승을 했다니 대단하다고 느껴지네요

Insane..

Its all about not giving up🙂

You spelled Badass wrong.

This story is worthy for a movie

Because no shoes were comfortable enough, he went barefoot. Badass level: Asian.

I ran 1/4 of a mile on blacktop with shoes and my feet were already hurting htf

With or without shoes, with or without shoes. He can win, with or without shoes.

♥️♥️God bless

What's the music here I NEED it

He is a hero

♥️❣️🇪🇹🇪🇹🇪🇹🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽..,!! 😰R I P, my hero😰😢🙏🏽

Does anyone know what's the music from 02:01 to 03:25 ?

A Clear Ethiopian determination and resilience!

Turn auto captions off.

Wow !!