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 male marathon runner and long-distance athlete who competed in athletics. Born in Shewa, Ethiopia, in 1932, he held citizenship in Ethiopia and spoke Amharic. His competitive career spanned from 1956 to 1968, during which he represented Ethiopia in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics. He held the marathon world record progression and received the BBC World Sport Star of the Year award.
Bikila died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Addis Ababa in 1973, with his death classified as natural causes. He was buried in Ethiopia. While some records list his birth place as Jato, Ethiopia, he is primarily identified as an athlete from Shewa.
Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, TMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
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
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Ethiopia
- Place of birth
- Shewa
- Place of death
- Addis Ababa
- Occupation
- athletics competitor
- Languages spoken
- Amharic
- Participant in
- 1960 Summer Olympics
- Sport
- athletics
- Country for sport
- Ethiopia
- Mass
- 57
- Image
- Abebe Bikila 1968c.jpg
- Height
- 177
Show 10 more facts
- Commons category
- Abebe Bikila
- date of birth
- 1932-01-01
- date of death
- 1973-10-25
- cause of death
- cerebral hemorrhage
- sports discipline competed in
- marathon
- manner of death
- natural causes
- record held
- Marathon world record progression
- place of burial
- Ethiopia
- start of work period
- 1956-00-00
- end of work period
- 1968-00-00
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · 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.