MovieChat Forums > Marathon Man (1976) Discussion > Abebe Bikila

Abebe Bikila

posted 9 years ago by chipblue45
3 replies | jump to latest

Being from Ethiopia myself, i was extremely surprised and thrilled to see the legend that is Abebe Bikila multiple times throughout the film as one of Babe's inspirations. I had to pause the movie so many times just to take it in.

[–] Bill-16 9 years ago

Being an old Cross Country Long Distance runner, I remember seeing him and knowing who he was instantly... He was an incredible runner.. he ran as if in a trance...looked like and probably could run double marathons.... also, he ran barefoot many times, including when he won his first Olympic Gold in 1960....I think he wore shoes when he won again in '64.

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[–] tallred75 9 years ago

It has been a while since I read the novel, but I believe the inspiration there was Paavo Nurmi, the Finnish runner from the 1920s. I thought, maybe, they replaced Nurmi with Bikila for the film because better footage existed of him than Nurmi.

[–] oldgoatee 8 years ago

In the book both Nurmi and Bikila exhorted and inspired Levy during his escape