Abebe Bikila Abebe Bikila Abebe Bikila (; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was an Ethiopian marathon runner. A double Olympic marathon champion, he won the first at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot, setting a world record. He is Africa's first world record breaking athlete in any sport and the first sub-Saharan African Olympic gold medallist. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Abebe became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title, breaking his own world record in the process. He was a member of the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, an elite infantry division that
Tara Cunningham In 2000, she became the first US weightlifter to win Olympic gold since Chuck Vinci in 1960, and the first US female weightlifter ever to win Olympic gold. The original gold medal winner, Bulgaria's Izabela Dragneva, was stripped of her gold after testing positive for furosemide and the gold was awarded to Nott. At the 2004 Summer Olympics she ranked 10th in the 48 kg category. Tara Cunningham Tara Nott-Cunningham (born Tara Nott, May 10, 1972) is an American former Olympic weightlifter who competed for the United States in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. She is the only