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!)

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)