Japan commemorates legendary Ethiopian athlete Abebe Bikila
Addis Ababa, December 17, 2023 (FBC) – The 18th Kasama City Half Marathon was held earlier today in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, in memory of the legendary Ethiopian marathoner and the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Marathon champion, the Ethiopian Embassy in Tokyo confirmed.
Since his heroics in the Japanese capital in the 1964 Olympic Games, the late Abebe Bikila is a popular name in Japan, also one of the key factors which deepened the longstanding Ethiopia-Japan bilateral relations.
For this reason the 18th Kasama City Half Marathon was dedicated to the legendary Ethiopian athlete.
The half-marathon race was launched by Daba Debele, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to Japan. In his speech at the event, the Ambassador noted that the role of such competitions is important to strengthen and deepen the people-to-people ties and the long-standing friendly relations between Ethiopia and Japan.
He also thanked the Japanese government for organizing this competition and commemorating the iconic athlete Abebe Bikila.
The mayor of Kasama city, Shinju Yamaguchi, affirmed that his city will continue working with the embassy. The mayor confirmed that he will visit Ethiopia by leading a delegation from the city administration and that they would like to establish a sister city cooperation with counterparts in Ethiopia.
Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathon runner who won a gold medal and set a world record while running barefoot at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, then bested his own record at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, winning his second gold medal. He was the first athlete who became a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was also the first African athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.