Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathon runner who won the Rome Olympics marathon on 10 September 1960 running without athletic shoes. He became a eleventh hour inclusion to the squad and the coutries sponsor, Adidas, didn't have enough time to arrange running footwear for him to run in. They had just had a couple of pairs remaining, of which neither of them fitted him. He made the decision he would then do the the marathon without shoes. At the subsequent Olympic games in Tokyo in 1964, he again got the gold medal in the marathon, however did it on this occasion running in running footwear and ran faster. Abebe Bikila passed on in 1973 at the age of 41 from difficulties after a motor vehicle accident. He is respected and revered in his home country having a arena bearing his name.

Abebe Bikila carries a unique place in the background of running, in particular from those who endorse and encourage barefoot running because they hold Abebe Bikila up as substantiation that the race could be run without shoes. Throughout the barefoot running community Abebe is an icon by having an virtually god like standing. There was a trend a while back for taking away running shoes and running without running shoes. This fad was influenced by a great number of internet sites, community forums, publications and social media discourse as something that was helpful and superior for runners. A great deal of unsubstantiated claims appeared for barefoot running, none of which stood up to subsequent examination. This gimmick lasted a couple of years, most likely peaking around 2013-14 with most likely about 25 percent of runners trying barefoot running or giving it a go at it in some form. The fad easily went away following the majority of athletes that tried it got an injury or noticed that it didn't live up to all of the claims that got made for it. It has today ended up consigned to the history books, with only a handful of hardcore barefoot running enthusiasts still doing it.

There is a lot of research published on barefoot running that runners who like to promote and propose barefoot running held these studies up as proof that barefoot running is better for you. Nevertheless, the analysis by no means essentially demonstrated that at all and it was greatly misunderstood. All the research revealed was that without shoes running was not the same as running in running footwear which was all.