Who won the men’s Olympic marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Games?

Abebe Bikila won the men’s Olympic marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Bikila represented Ethiopia and successfully defended the title he had won four years earlier in Rome. In Tokyo, he ran 2:12:11, setting a world best that was recognized as an Olympic record. He had undergone an appendectomy only weeks before the race, making the performance especially notable.

Unlike his famous Rome victory, Bikila wore running shoes in Tokyo. He had run barefoot in 1960 because his shoes caused discomfort, a detail that often leads people to assume he always competed barefoot. The Tokyo course finished in the National Stadium.

Bikila was the first athlete to win the Olympic marathon twice. His achievement helped establish Ethiopia as a major distance-running nation and influenced later generations of African marathoners.