A Moment of Rest Away From The Whirling Whir of the World: A Lost Story
May 2nd, 2008
By DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Assistant Editor, TMV Columnist
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This is Abebe Bikila. He is from Ethiopia. He was overlooked and did everything wrong.
His was not an auspicious beginning. His father was a shepherd, and it was expected Abebe would be a shepherd too.
But, he decided there would be more food for him and his family if he joined the Regimental Bodyguards. He did so, but did not progress past the rank of private.
He was good enough, but nothing to write home about.
The Bodyguards held maneuvers. A Finnish fellow, Mjr. Onni Niskanen, was brought in to choose some men to train athletically. He noticed Abebe was pretty athletic and put him in his group.
Abebe did okay, but he was nothing to write home about.
It was 1960 and in ancient countries during those modern times, the training for athletes for the Olympics was not as organized as it is today.
The Rome Olympics were held in 1960 and at the last minute one of Ethiopia’s Olympian runners broke his ankle. Abebe was commandeered as the plane was about to leave for Rome. Abebe would replace the injured runner. But, no one expected much, for Abebe was nothing to write home about.
The athletic shoe company, Adidas, one of the sponsors at the 1960 Rome Olympics, did not have Abebe’s correct shoe size. They gave him an ill-fitting pair of shoes to run in.
A couple hours before the Olympics marathon, Abebe just couldn’t manage the poor-fitting shoes, and so decided to run barefoot instead, just as he trained back home in Ethiopia. All other runners would wear shoes, but no one objected to Abebe’s decision, cause Abebe wasn’t all that much to write home about.
However, his coach, the old Finn, Mjr. Onni Niskanen, advised Abebe the runner to beat would be the fastest one, a Mr. Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morocco, who would be wearing bib Number 26.
For reasons no one could explain later, the fastest runner Mr. Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morocco never picked up his black bib Number 26, and instead was wearing Number 185.
As the race began, the barefooted Abebe ran really hard, passing runner after runner, looking, looking to find and pass Number 26.
At 12 miles into the marathon, Abebe and one other runner, Number 185, had put a large gap between themselves out front with the other runners behind. Abebe was running his heart out, sure that the fastest runner, Number 26 must still be far ahead of him. Abebe put every last cell into running as he tried with everything in him, to catch up to the phantom Number 26.
Number 185 and Abebe ran and ran and ran, neck and neck up until the last 500 meters, when Abebe found a last reserve of power in himself and ran even faster, sprinting across the finish line ahead of the fastest runner, who unbeknownst to him had been running beside him all the time.
Abebe was the first African to win an Olympic gold medal.
As the oldest tellers in our family say to end stories, “So, here’s to us who have been given such a good story to tell,”
… and especially, here’s to Abebe.
i thank You God for most this amazing day
By e.e. cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
_______________
CODA: a picture of Abebe and his big beautiful feet. Abebe lived through various coups and wars in Ethiopia, and ran in additional Olympics contests and other big profile marathons and won many of them. He was given a white VW Beetle as a reward by Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia. This car was quite a stand out, as cars were rare among the people of Ethiopia.
During a civil unrest, Abebe had to swerve his VW to avoid a group of onrushing student protesters. He suffered in an instant from spinal cord injury, paraplegia. Yet Abebe vowed he would try to compete in paraplegics’ archery contests. But Abebe, the barefoot boy who ran his heart out, suffered a sudden stroke and died… this, only 13 years after his famous Olympics gold. This sweet man had had only 41 years on earth. But remains a giant in ever so many ways. A lot, a great deal, a huge amount of body and soul to write home about.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Poetry. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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