Have you ever walked barefoot in the park? It's great, isn't it? Your feet sink into the lush soft grass and fresh air whistles through your toes; it's what you dream of on a cold winter day. Have you ever walked on black top? It's not so great. Not only does it get hot, but those nasty little stones scattered about on the pavement kill when your body weight pushes the soles of your feet into their sharp edges. Now imagine running barefoot on black top. It hurts just to think about it. How about running barefoot... on black top... for 26 miles and 365 yards? Now that has to be excruciating. If that isn't enough to think about, try to run barefoot, on black top, for 26 miles and 365 yards and do it in 2 hours 15 minutes and 16 seconds. Super human, don't you think? Well that's exactly what Abebe Bikila did in Rome on a summer day in 1960.

Abebe Bikila, the son of an Ethiopian sheppard, joined the Imperial Bodyguard of Ethiopia so that he could financially help his family. It was there that he met Onni Niskanen, a Finn, who immediately noticed Abebe's ability to run. From that point on, Niskanen trained Abebe with an eye towards the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Abebe was not initially chosen for the Olympic team, but amazingly was called in as a replacement for Wame Biratu, another Ethiopian runner, who had broken his leg in a soccer game. Abebe arrived in Rome but failed to secure a pair of Adidas running shoes (Olympic game sponsor) because he couldn't find a pair that fit properly. Niskanen and Abebe, not wanting to run the race in ill fitting shoes made the decision to run the marathon barefoot.

Before the race Niskanen told Bikila that the favorite, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morroco, was wearing number 26. Niskanen was wrong. Abdesselam was actually wearing number 185. Abebe passed runner after runner looking for number 26, only to find himself running, mile after mile, beside number 185. It wasn't till the very end of the race, with only 500 yards to run, that Abebe pulled away from number 185 to capture the gold medal.

Incredible! This man, an unknown first time Olympian had beaten the world's best runners... in his bare feet.

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The King of Pain - Shun Fujimoto

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