Abebe Bikila's 1960 marathon victory – in pictures | Sport | guardian.co.uk

Abebe Bikila was born on 7 August, 1932 in the village of Jato, 9km outside the town of Mendida, in Ethiopia. Bikila decided to join the Imperial Bodyguard to support his family and walked to Addis Ababa where he started as a private. Onni Niskanen, a Finnish-born Swede, was hired by the Ethiopian government to train potential athletes and he soon spotted the young man's talent. However, Bikila was only added to the Ethiopian Olympic team at the last moment, just as the plane to Rome was about to leave. He was a replacement for Wami Biratu, who had broken his ankle in a football match. Niskanen entered Bikila and Abebe Wakgira in the marathon.

In 1964 Bikila traveled to Tokyo, he was not expected to compete but did choose to enter the marathon. He used the same strategy as he had in 1960: to stay with the leaders until the 20km mark, then slowly increase his pace. After 15km he had only the company of Ron Clarke from Australia and Jim Hogan from Ireland. Shortly before 20km only Hogan was still in contention and by 30km, Bikila was 40 seconds in front of Hogan and two minutes in front of Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan, who was now in third place ...

But Bikila entered the Olympic stadium alone, to the cheers of 70,000 spectators. He finished the marathon in a new world record time of 2hours, 12 minutes and 11seconds – 4minutes, 8seconds in front of the silver medallist, Basil Heatley of Great Britain. Kokichi Tsuburaya was third. Bikila was the first athlete in history to win the Olympic marathon twice. After the finish he went on to astonish the crowd. Not appearing tired, he began a routine of stretching exercises. He later said that he could have run another 10km.

In 1969, during civil unrest in Addis Ababa, Bikila was driving his Volkswagen Beetle when he had to swerve to avoid a group of protesting students. He lost control of the car and it landed in a ditch, trapping him. He was freed eventually but the accident left him quadriplegic. He was operated on at the Stoke Mandeville hospital in England and his condition improved to paraplegic. Niskanen convinced him to take up archery and Bikila entered competitions for athletes in wheelchairs, including the International Paraplegic Games, for which he was practicing in this picture, at the Stoke Mandeville stadium.

On 25 October 1973, Abebe Bikila died in Addis Ababa at the age of 41 from a cerebral haemorrhage, a complication related to the car accident. He left behind his wife and four children but his funeral in Addis Ababa was attended by 75,000 people and Emperor Haile Selassie I proclaimed a national day of mourning for his country's national hero. After his death, his memory has been honoured. A stadium in Addis Ababa is named in his honour and numourous schools and awards bear his name. During 2005 in Rome, the city where the world first laid eyes on the talented Abebe Bikila, runners staged a night race in memory of him.