If anyone ever competed for pride of homeland, it was Adebe Bikila of Ethiopia. When he was 20, he watched a parade of fellow countrymen returning from the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. When he asked who these people wearing uniforms with "Ethiopia" stitched across the back were, he was told they had represented the country in the Olympics. That was all he needed to hear. He wanted to be one of them. Already a good athlete, he began to train for the marathon. Soon he displaced the current running hero Wami Biratu and earned a trip to Rome for the 1960 Games. He could now wear that uniform.

In Rome, Bikila did not disappoint his fellow Ethiopians. He didn't just win the gold; he set a new world record of 2:16:2 while running barefoot through the streets of Rome. Asked why he had run without shoes, he said, "I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism." He was the first African to win an Olympic gold medal.