Abebe Bikila

Before Abebe Bikila, there were no runners in Africa, or at least no runners that the world knew about. After Bikila won the Olympic marathon in Rome in 1960, we Africans all started thinking: “Look — he is one of us. If he can do it, we can do the same.”

Let me explain it in a different way. Before the Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane, no humans could fly, and most people didn’t believe such a thing was possible — yet now we’re sending rockets to Mars and who knows where next. In Africa before Bikila, there were no successful runners, and most of us didn’t believe there ever would be. Now there are thousands of us, winning races all over the world, setting new standards and breaking records.

In one of my offices there is a poster that shows all the great champions Ethiopia has produced. Bikila is there right in the center. He is an icon for the whole of Africa, and a personal hero of mine. If it weren’t for him, I would still be a farmer in the hills of Arsi. But because of Abebe Bikila I’m trying to win an Olympic marathon, just like him.