Talk:Abebe Bikila/Archive 1

Shoes
Please do not change the shoes worn by Bikila in the 1964 Olympics. The shoes were Pumas. The filmed and photographic evidence demonstrably proves that the shoes worn were Pumas and not Tiger (Asics). See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTO7tFiyBlw There is more evidence, but the film is crystal clear. There is no evidence otherwise but errant web statements may be found. Corregere (talk) 01:43, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

High Altitude?
"'At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Bikila was affected by high altitude, injury, and age and ended up withdrawing from the marathon after 17 kilometers. He did, however, witness his fellow countryman'"

Was he really affected by high altitude? Given that the Ethiopian highlands are higher than Mexico City, I doubt this, though it could have had an effect in that it wasn't easier for him as Rome and Tokyo would have been because of lower altitude.

Yom 19:14, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

BTW the fellow country man that won that race was no other than Mamo Wolde, he did withdraw after 15 km not seventeen. The reason he had to withdraw was because he overtrained. Nolawip 03:21, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I read in a 1971 Przegląd Sportowy article that he was initially tetraplegic after his accident, and only later improved to paraplegic. Humorously, the paper stated that the was operated by the "famous Stoke Mandeville" (which is the name of a locality, as I learned to my surprise, and not a doctor!)

G'day folks. Currently reading "Barefoot Runner" by Rambali, which describes the life of Abebe in great detail. I'll start rewriting the article (including sources) as soon as i am done with the book. Things that should be in here for instance is the fact that Abebe was sentenced to hang for his part in the Coup in Ethopia in 1960 (or so), etc. WinusB 16:20, 19 January 2007 (AEST)
 * As you can see, that's done. WinusB 13:04, 8 March 2007 (AEST)

Sorry but the book Barefoot Runner by Rambali is a 'fictional biography' and much of the supposed 'detail' is actually from the imagination of Rambali. It is a shame that the author or publisher do not make this clear in the book, although Rambali has admitted it in interviews. I'm not sure how much real research was carried out by Rambali for the book - no references are cited, there is no list of Abebe's running achievements and very few dates are mentioned. I would suggest that Barefoot Runner should be treated as unsourced material.

Despite Rambali's claims that his is the first book about Abebe Bikila there have been others. Abebe's daughter, Tsegie Abebe, published Triumph and Tragedy: A History of Abebe Bikila and His Marathon Career in 1996. More recently Giorgio Lo Giudice and Valerio Piccioni published a book in Italy in 2003 titled Un sogno a Roma - Storia di Abebe Bikila.

See Miller Mezdon's article for a more likely, but less dramatic, details of Abebe's involvement in the 1960 coup and more details of his life. (I suspect Miller Mezdon is basing his story on Tsegie Abebe's book but, as I haven't found a copy of the book yet, can't be sure).

Newcross 15:47, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Rambali's book has many running-specific errors; that and the lack of sources also persuades me that this is historical fiction. With reference to the story about a runner making a comment to Bikila at the start of the 1960 marathon; Rambali has this as Barry Magee, who did indeed take the bronze medal. The main entry says it was Ron Clarke, but I don't think he was there. Fahrenheit7 03:45, 7 June 2007 (UTC).

Should Abebe Bikila be known as an Athlete or a Marathoner?
I recently changed the info box Sport data for Abebe Bikila from Athletics to Marathon, and it was changed back to Athletics. Abebe Bikila was known for one and only one event, that being the marathon, and he won Olympic gold twice in the event to become an international celebrity and a national hero in Ethiopia. It is absolutely irrelevant if he participated in track and field, cross country, road running and race walking on the side. An athlete is known by his specialty and not by superficial activities.

The decision to describe Bikila's sport as Athletics is ambiguous, vague and purely subjective. Michael Jordan is classified as the greatest basketball player of all time. After his first retirement, he played baseball for a very short period until he returned to basketball. After Jordan retired from basketball a second time, he took up golf. Should Michael Jordan be known as an athlete instead of a basketball player? I think not. The same logic applies to Abebe Bikila.

One of the limitations of Wikipedia is the fact that ANYONE can edit an article. People have different opinions on how an article should appear and be edited. When somebody edits an article, you don't know who is doing the editing. It could be a moderator, a newbie, a 10-year-old child, an ignoramus, or a vandal. I still think that Abebe Bikila's sport is Marathon and not Athletics. Who cares if he race walked and participated in track and field. Those miniscule facts are irrelevant to the person who was the world's greatest marathoner in two successive Olympiads.

Anthony22 (talk) 22:06, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

Deletion of quotes
I propose we delete the following: The reasons being:
 * 1) "After the race, when Abebe was asked why he had run barefoot, he replied, 'I wanted the whole world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism.'"
 * 2) The entire Quotes section.
 * 1) Rambeli, Paul (2006). Barefoot runner: the life of marathon champion Abebe Bikila is (very good) work of fiction. It is not a biography but a biographical fiction
 * 2) L. Fufa, July 2008 A. Bikila's Biography as seen in this Wayback archive  is a Wikipedia mirror. So this is a clear WP:SELF.
 * 3) Quotes Sections are out of style since the launch of Wikiquote. &mdash; አቤል ዳዊት?(Janweh64) (talk) 20:32, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
 * ✅ &mdash;አቤል ዳዊት?(Janweh64) (talk) 18:59, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Pre-FAC comments

 * Not a fan of Further reading sections - material should be incorporated in the body of text. The In popular culture is a little choppy. Maybe more comments of the Rambali book and the Japanese item can be included there. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 04:47, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I got rid of the Further reading section and incorporated into the In popular culture while bearing in mind your observation that the section is choppy. Should I continue to ping you? &mdash;አቤል ዳዊት?(Janweh64) (talk) 06:54, 28 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Para 4 in 1960–64 - However, he wore shoes for his victories in the Osaka and Košice marathons that year - do we know why? (also, try to avoid stubby paras wherever possible)

Willkipedia, please make correction, check facts on ground before publishing it
Many error here... Abebe Bikila, the Marathon Gold medalist is not Amhara, rather Oromo. Belay Zeleke, Abuse Petros....many others including Lij Iyasu were all Oromos 207.189.198.177 (talk) 00:35, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Result of abebe bekila
Result 196.188.112.25 (talk) 08:42, 13 March 2022 (UTC)