Did Abebe Bikila manage to run a marathon without using shoes?

Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian athlete who got the gold medal at Rome Olympic games marathon on 10 September 1960 running barefoot. He was a eleventh hour addition to the marathon team and the coutries footwear provider, Adidas, did not have ample time to organize running footwear for him to use. Adidas just had two pairs of shoes still left, of which neither of them fitted him. He made a decision he'd then do the the marathon without shoes. At the subsequent Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan in 1964, he again got the gold medal in the marathon, but did it this time running in running shoes and ran it faster. He died in 1973 at the age of 41 due to issues after a motor vehicle accident. He is honored and adored in Ethiopia which has a arena named after him.

Abebe Bikila has a special place in the historical past of marathons, in particular with people who propose and publicize barefoot running since they hold Abebe up as proof that a marathon might be run without footwear. In that group Abebe Bikila is an icon with an virtually god like reputation. There has been a novelty a little while back for doing away with running footwear and running without running shoes. This was influenced by way of a lots of websites, discussion boards, books as well as social media comments as something that was beneficial and superior for runners. Numerous unsubstantiated claims was made for barefoot running, probably none of that stood up to succeeding analysis. This craze went on for a couple of years, probably peaking about 2013-14 with most likely around 25 % of runners trying it or having a go at it in one way or another. The novelty easily disappeared following almost all runners whom used it got an overuse injury or recognized that this didn't fulfill all the assertions that got devised for it. It has today ended up relegated towards the history books, with simply a handful of dedicated barefoot running aficionados still running that way.

There was a great deal of science done on barefoot running that runners who choose to promote and endorse barefoot running held these studies up as evidence that barefoot running is much better. Nevertheless, the research in no way really indicated that at all and was commonly misunderstood. All of the science showed was that barefoot running was different to running in running shoes and this was all it showed.