The marathon is the making of tales and is an incredibly a difficult distance to run, even for runners which are well trained. The marathon covers 42 kms which is hard on your body, in particular the feet and that's why all marathon athletes usually tend to spend a huge amount of effort on and give so much consideration to precisely what it is that they have on their own feet. All runners do spend lots of time finding the proper athletic shoes and lots of money is associated with running shoes with it being a big market. Back at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, Abebe Bikala from Ethiopia had been a eleventh hour inclusion in their squad, so that as he showed up to be fitted with all the team equipment they had no running footwear left in the squads supplies which could suit him. Rather than wear the incorrect size Abebe Bikala chose to compete in the marathon without running shoes and then proceeded to win the gold medal. This can be the stuff that legends are created from.
His being successful in doing this is often heralded as something tremendous and well deserving of legend reputation. Recently there was a trend with a substantial group of athletes touting that running footwear are not that essential and they are not all they are claimed to be. These runners were promoting barefoot running much like nature intended because that is the way that we evolved. Historically human beings had to run great distances to survive as animals needed to be hunted on foot over prolonged distances and this was completed without having to use athletic shoes. The running shoes are only a rather recent creation.
Runners who suggest the barefoot method of running point out the achievements of Abebe Bikala as even more proof that runners do not absolutely need running shoes for running and that barefoot is better. Abebe Bikala winning gold medal at the Rome Olympics without running footwear certainly indicates that it is possible to do it. Nevertheless, he subsequently went on to earn the gold medal and break the world record in the marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games. This time he was running in correct running footwear. This suggests that he had the ability to run faster when he was using running footwear. These triumphs of Bikala were impressive however making use of them as confirmation that it's advisable to not use running footwear and run barefoot will not stack up to analysis.
Abebe Bikala was born August 7, 1932. Bikala's accomplishment in winning the Rome Olympic marathon had been the first gold medal won by a competitor from Africa. On March 22, 1969, he was seriously injured after having a motor vehicle accident and never was able to walk again, dying on October 25, 1973 aged 41 from related issues. There is a stadium in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia that was named after Bikala. There have been many biographies and films about him and recording his athletic career and his celebrated triumphs against various odds. Almost all publications regarding the marathon and also the Olympics have accounts about Bikala.