Talk:Abebe Bikila

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[edit] 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!)