Abebe Bikila Art Print, Rome 1960 Barefoot Marathon, Vintage Athletics Wall Art

No shoes. Abebe Bikila was a soldier in the Ethiopian imperial guard, entered as a late replacement, and ran the Olympic marathon in Rome barefoot because none of the pairs he was offered fitted.

The course ran past the obelisk of Axum, which Italian forces had taken from Ethiopia in 1937 and set up beside the ministry that had governed the occupation. He passed it at around the twenty-fifth kilometre and finished under the Arch of Constantine by torchlight in a world best time.

Twenty-five years earlier Italy had invaded his country. Nobody had to explain the significance to anybody watching.

Stories worth passing on, not just remembering.