Abebe Bikila Won 1964 Tokyo Marathon Part - 1 | Tokyo
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1964 Summer Olympics Abebe Bikila traveled to Tokyo but was not expected to compete. He did enter the marathon, this time wearing Puma shoes. While he had spoken with Kihachiro Onitsuka of the future Asics company, he was pursued actively by Adidas and Puma, ultimately deciding to wear Puma shoes. He used the same strategy as in 1960: to stay with the leaders until the 20 kilometer point, then slowly increase his pace. After 15 km he only had company from Ron Clarke of Australia and Jim Hogan of Ireland. Shortly before 20 km only Hogan was in contention and by 30 km, Bikila was 40 seconds in front of Hogan and two minutes in front of Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan in third place. He entered the Olympic stadium alone to the cheers of 70,000 spectators. He finished the marathon in a new world record time of 2:12:11:2; 4 minutes, 8 seconds in front of the silver medalist Basil Heatley of Great Britain. Kokichi Tsuburaya was third. He was the first athlete in history to win the Olympic marathon twice. After finishing he astonished the crowd: not appearing exhausted, he started a routine of stretching exercises. He later stated that he could have run another 10 kilometers. Bikila returned to Ethiopia to a hero's welcome once again. He was again promoted by the Emperor, and he received his own car, a white Volkswagen Beetle.
Comments
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What makes Mills incredible is not that he finished 24th days after winning a gold medal, but winning the medal in general. It was a total upset. He was totally not expected to win because his best time over 10,000 meters was around 2 minutes slower than he ran in the race. He went through the 5,000 meter mark only one second slower than his PR for 5,000 meters! In addition, much like Bikila in 1960 he wasn't given a pair of shoes to race in. He had to run in borrowed shoes.
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Indeed. But others before (Vladimir Kuts) and since (Lasse Viren - 76) have done even better in the marathon after winning the 10K . But I give full credit to Billy for a great Olympics
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I thought the same thing!!
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OK thanks
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He was 14th, in 2.22.55.
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QUIERO EL VIDEO.................. DONDE LOCONSIGO FPORFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
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can you imagine he would have destroyed the WR if the never stopped.
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i found it funny how they stop and drink like they are at home but not in a race
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You can see Billy Mills fromt he US at 0:30 who had won the 10,000M race in an upset just a few days earlier. He finished 24th in the marathon which is amazing!
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kinda funny how the stop and drink like they are at the bar and not in a time sensitive event.