Sport in Ethiopia Africa to win an Olympic gold medal, doing so over 10,000 meters at Barcelona. Abebe Bikila, the first Olympic champion representing an African nation, won the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964, setting world records both times. He is well-known to this day for winning the 1960 marathon in Rome while running barefoot. Miruts Yifter, the first in a tradition of Ethiopians known for their brilliant finishing speed, won gold at 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Moscow Olympics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kenenisa Bekele became the second man to achieve this feat, while fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba became
Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa were a group of expeditions and explorations to Lake Chad and western Africa. These expeditions were conducted by groups of military and commercial units of Romans who moved across the Sahara and into the interior of Africa and its coast. They occurred between the first and the fourth century AD. The primary motivation for the expeditions was to secure sources of gold and spices. The Romans organized expeditions to cross the Sahara along five different routes: All these expeditions were supported by legionaries and had mainly a commercial purpose. Only the one