Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | Ethiopian |
Born | Borena, Ethiopia | 21 October 1921
Sport | |
Sport | Long-distance running |
Event | Marathon |
Abebe Wakgira (also spelled Abebe Wakjira [1] born 21 October 1921) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. Abebe competed in the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, finishing seventh in 2:21.09.4. [2] Both he and Abebe Bikila notably run and completed this Olympic marathon barefoot, after having found their team provided shoes uncomfortable.
Degaga "Mamo" Wolde was an Ethiopian long distance runner who competed in track, cross-country, and road running events. He was the winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Shambel Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal, making him the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.
Ethiopia competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after a 12 year absence, having boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States and 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Twenty competitors, fourteen men and six women, took part in eleven events in two sports.
Ethiopia competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Twelve competitors, all men, took part in eleven events in three sports. Abebe Bikila repeated as Olympic champion in the men's marathon.
Ethiopia competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Ten competitors, all men, took part in eight events in two sports. Abebe Bikila won the country's first ever Olympic medal by winning the men's marathon.
The men's marathon was part of the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 21 October 1964. 79 athletes from 41 nations entered, with 68 starting and 58 finishing. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the marathon. Unlike in 1960, he wore shoes this time. Great Britain earned its first marathon medal since 1948 with Basil Heatley's silver; Japan took its first medal since 1936 with bronze by Kōkichi Tsuburaya.
The Rome Marathon is an annual marathon competition hosted by the city of Rome, Italy.
Seifu Makonnen, known by the nickname Tibo, was a two-time Olympic boxer from Ethiopia.
Rhadi Ben Abdesselam was a Moroccan long-distance runner. He competed at the 1960 Olympics in the marathon and 10,000 meters events.
Aurèle Vandendriessche was a Belgian marathon runner, who won silver medals at the 1962 and 1966 European Championships. He competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Olympics with the best result of seventh place in 1964. Twice winner of the Boston Marathon, he recorded his best time there, 2:17:44 in 1965, while finishing fourth.
Sergei Konstantinovich Popov was a Russian marathon runner. He won a gold medal at the 1958 European Championships setting a new world record at 2:15:17; this record stood for more than two years and remained the Soviet national record until 1970. He also set a world record in Moscow, on June 15, 1958, for 30 kilometers, running 1:32:58.8. Popov won the Soviet marathon title in 1957, when he ran the world's fastest marathon of the year in 2:19:50 in Moscow, 1958 and 1959, and placed second in 1962 and third in 1963. In 1959, he set the course record at the Košice Peace Marathon, the third year in a row he ran the world's fastest time. He finished fifth at the 1960 Summer Olympics when the winner, Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, broke Popov's world record by less than a second.
The men's marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, was held on Sunday October 20, 1968. The race started at 15:00h local time. There were 75 competitors from 41 countries. Eighteen of them did not finish. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, the nation's third consecutive gold medal in the Olympic marathon.
The official results of the Men's 10,000 metres Race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico held on Sunday October 13, 1968. There were a total number of 37 competitors from 23 nations. The winning margin was 0.6 seconds.
Sports in Ethiopia include many fields, although Ethiopia is best known internationally for its middle-distance and long-distance runners. Seifu Mekonnen was an Olympic contestant for Ethiopia in boxing. The Ethiopian national football team won the 1962 African Cup of Nations. There are also traditional sports events, such as stick fighting which is popular amongst the Surma and Nyangatom people.
The men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, was held on Saturday September 10, 1960. There were 69 participants from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Abebe Bikila, who ran the race barefoot, finished in world record time and became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal. All three of the medalists came from nations which had never before won an Olympic marathon medal. The winning margin was 25.4 seconds.
The Athlete is a 2009 Ethiopian drama film directed by Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew. The film was selected as the Ethiopian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. It was the first Ethiopian film to be submitted in the category for Best Foreign Language Film. The film has been reviewed in an international journal.
Bertie Messitt was an Irish long-distance runner. He was educated in Saint Cronan's Boys' National School in Bray. A bus conductor, he won his fourth Irish cross country title in 1961. By the time he had ended his competitive career in 1966, he had recorded 16 Irish records, nine in 1958 alone: 13:44 for three miles, 14:14.8 for 5,000m, 49:33 for 10 miles. He finished 13th in the European Marathon Championships in Belgrade in 1962. His best marathon time, 2:25.39, was set in 1963. He won the Irish marathon championship in 1960, running 2:28:40, qualifying him for the Irish team in the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Bakir Benaïssa is a Moroccan former long-distance runner who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, finishing 8th in the marathon in 2:21:21.4, and in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He won the 10,000 meters and finished second at the 5,000 meters at the Pan-Arab Games in Beirut in 1957, and won the quadrennial Mediterranean Games marathons in 1959 and 1963. He was born in Rabat. The 1960 Rome marathon resulted in a world record for winner, Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, with Benaïssa's teammate, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam, finishing a close second.
Ethiopian Athletic Federation (EAF) is an WA recognized member officially representing Ethiopia as the national governing body for the sport of Athletics.