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
1992 Winter Olympics medal table Winter Olympic medal—became the first athlete from the Southern Hemisphere to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Speed skater Ye Qiaobo of the People's Republic of China and alpine skier Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg also won their country's first ever Winter Olympic medals in Albertville. Croatia and Slovenia participated at their first Olympic Games as independent nations, though neither won a medal. Two athletes, both cross-country skiers for the Unified Team, tied for the most medals for an individual athlete with five each. Lyubov Yegorova won three gold and two silver medals, while Yelena Välbe won one gold and