File:Abebe_Bikila_1968_(b_retouched).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Abebe Bikila
Sign in to saveEthiopian double Olympic marathon champion
OverviewAI-generated
Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian athlete who competed in athletics, specifically as a marathon and long-distance runner. Born in Shewa in 1932, he represented Ethiopia in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics. His career spanned from 1956 to 1968. During his competitive years, he held the marathon world record progression and received the BBC World Sport Star of the Year award.
Bikila stood 177 centimeters tall and weighed 57 kilograms. He died of natural causes due to a cerebral hemorrhage in Addis Ababa on October 25, 1973. He is buried in Ethiopia.
Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
Acting · Jato, Ethiopia
Known for
- 1960 — Self (archive footage)2010
- The Athlete — Himself (archive footage)2009
- Marathon Man — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)1976
- Tokyo Olympiad — Self1965
- Der Sport-Spiegel — Self1963
via TMDB
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 2
- Total plays
- 4
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Abebe+Bikila">Read more on Last.fm</a>
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
· 2018 · cited 10,989x
- Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
· 2018 · cited 6,183x
- Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016
· 2017 · cited 6,171x
- Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
· 2020 · cited 5,493x
- Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
· 2019 · cited 4,612x
via Crossref · CC0
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Shambel Abebe Bikila (Amharic: ሻምበል አበበ ቢቂላ; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal, making him the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.
Born in Shewa, Abebe moved to Addis Ababa around 1952 and joined the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, an elite infantry division that safeguarded the emperor of Ethiopia. Abebe served in the Kagnew Battalion during the Korean War.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Abebe Bikila” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.