Abebe Bikila Rome Olympic marathon on September 10, 1960

Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila (in the picture) after winning the Rome Olympic marathon on September 10, 1960. Bikila was added to the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave. Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Bikila went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he ran barefoot, the way he'd trained for the race. Bikila won in a record time of 2:15:16.2, becoming the first African to win an Olympic gold medal.