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The Legend of Abebe Bikala Running the Marathon barefoot

The marathon is the stuff of legends and it is quite a hard distance to run, even for athletes that happen to be trained. The marathon goes for 26.2 miles which is difficult on the body, especially the feet and that’s why all marathon athletes tend to devote so much time on and give a great deal of consideration to exactly what it is that they put on on their own feet. Marathon do spend lots of time getting the ideal running shoes and lots of money is associated with running footwear with it being a large industry. Back at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, Abebe Bikala from Ethiopia had been a last minute addition to their team, so that when he joined the team to get fitted with all the team gear there were no athletic shoes left in the squads resources which might fit him. Rather than wear an incorrect size he decided to run the marathon without athletic shoes and then went on to win the gold medal. This can be the stuff that legends are made from.

Bikala’s achievement by doing this is commonly heralded as something tremendous and well deserving of legend reputation. Just lately there was a novelty with a major number of runners recommending that athletic shoes may not be that crucial plus they are not all they are believed to be. These runners had been advocating barefoot running much like nature intended since that is the manner in which we developed. In the past humans was required to run substantial distances to stay alive as animals had to be hunted by running over long distances which was completed without having to use running footwear. The running shoes are really only a rather recent invention.

Those who suggest the barefoot strategy to running point to the achievements of Abebe Bikala as even more substantiation that runners do not require running footwear for running and that barefoot is the most suitable. Abebe Bikala winning gold medal at the Rome Olympic games without running footwear surely suggests that you are able to do it. Even so, he subsequently continued to earn the gold medal and break the world record in the marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. On this occasion Bikala was running in adequate running footwear. This indicates that he had a chance to run faster when he was using running shoes. These accomplishments of Abebe Bikala were legendary however using them as confirmation that it is much better to not use running footwear and run barefoot does not stack up to scrutiny.

Abebe Bikala was born August 7, 1932. Bikala’s achievement in winning the Rome Olympics marathon had been the first gold medal received by an athlete from the African continent. On March 22, 1969, he was paralysed after a car crash and he never walked again, passing away October 25, 1973 aged 41 from problems. There is a stadium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which was named after him. There have been quite a few biographies and movies about him and documenting his running career and his celebrated triumphs against various odds. Nearly all publications regarding the marathon along with the Olympics feature tales about Bikala.