The 1960's Olympics and the Ancient Art of Bodily Intelligence in Runners

In 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie I, who had been in exile, regained power of Ethiopia. Mussolini’s army had invaded Ethiopia in 1936, and among the items the Fascist army had taken to Italy was the Obelisk of Axum (see photo). The Obelisk was reassembled in the Piazza di Porta Capena in Rome, and it remained there until 2008, when it was finally returned. Meanwhile, also in 1941, a nine-year-old boy, Abebe Bikila, was running the countryside of Ethiopia in bare feet as he worked as a herdsman like his father (Gotaas, 2009). In 19 years, the Obelisk would carry rhetorical weight for Abebe Bikila, and because of Bikila, it would prove meaningful for all Africans. <a href="https://medium.com/runners-life/the-1960s-olympics-and-the-ancient-art-of-bodily-intelligence-in-runners-39ccb3a8064a">Website</a>