Abebe Bikila

It took a little persuasion to get the legendary Ethiopian Marathon runner Abebe Bikila to wear Tiger shoes. As a matter of fact, up until 1957, Abebe didn’t wear shoes at all. When Onitsuka saw Abebe winning the Olympic Marathon in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, he was worried about the future of his company. Abebe ran barefoot. The next year, when Abebe Bikila ran the Mainichi Marathon in Japan, Onitsuka visited him in his hotel. “Why didn’t you bring your shoes?” Onitsuka asked. “Because I don’t have any”, was the athlete’s answer. After Onitsuka had explained to him that Japanese roads are littered with glass and therefore running bare-foot could be dangerous, Abebe was willing to give the Tiger running shoes a try. Onitsuka hurried back to the factory and gave his technicians the order to manufacture the world’s lightest pair of shoes immediately. The next day Abebe Bikila won the marathon. He wore shoes ever since.