As the world class runners stood at the start of the marathon at the 1960 Olympics in Rome that day, one might have noticed the small African runner with no shoes, and might have thought, compassionately, “Poverty is so terrible!”
But Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia won that marathon, running barefoot, and it seems likely that, as he received the gold medal, several attitudes about the ability of distance runners from East Africa had seen some adjustment that day.
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