1509

Today in History 09/10 (Abebe Bikila)

Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila (11) leads in the final stages of the marathon in the 1960 Olympic Games, Rome, Italy (© AP)(1960) Barefoot Bikila wins Rome’s marathon gold
The son of an Ethiopian shepherd, Abebe Bikila wins the gold medal in the marquee event of the Rome Summer Olympics after running the marathon race in his bare feet from Capitoline Hill to the finish line just outside the ancient Colosseum.
Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian double Olympic marathon champion. He won the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot, setting a world record. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Abebe was the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title, breaking his own world record in the process. He was a member of the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, an elite infantry division that safeguarded the Emperor of Ethiopia. Enlisting as a soldier before his athletic career, he rose to the rank of shambel. In Ethiopia, Abebe is formally known as Shambel Abebe Bikila.
Lived: Aug 07, 1932 – Oct 25, 1973 (age 41)
Height: 5′ 10″
Spouse: Yewibdar Giorghis (m. 1954 – 1973)
Parents: Bikila Demissie
Movies: Spirit of the Marathon · The Athlete
Awards: BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (1964)
Highlights
  • 1954: Abebe Bikila married Yewibdar Giorghis in 1954.

  • 1960: Abebe married 15-year-old Yewebdar Wolde-Giorgis on March 16, 1960.

  • 1961: In the 1961 Athens Classical Marathon, Abebe again won while running barefoot.

  • 1963: Abebe participated in a total of sixteen marathons, winning twelve and finishing fifth in the 1963 Boston Marathon.

  • 1966: In 1966 he ran marathons at Zarautz and Inchon–Seoul, winning both.

  • 1973: Abebe died at age 41 on October 25, 1973, of a cerebral hemorrhage related to his accident four years earlier.

Abebe Bikila wins the marathon at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960
Crossing the finish line
wiki/Abebe_Bikila
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(1960) Barefoot Bikila wins Rome’s marathon gold.
Also on this day,

1509 | Massive earthquake hits Constantinople
The North Anatolian Fault releases 7.2 magnitudes of energy under the Sea of Marmara close to the seat of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople, in what will one day be Turkey. The quake will earn its epithet, ‘The Lesser Judgment Day,’ with its immediate destructiveness and 45 days of seemingly endless aftershocks.
1919 | New Yorkers take to the streets as heroes come home
New Yorkers welcome 25,000 soldiers home from the battlefields of Europe nearly a year after WWI’s armistice with a gigantic victory parade down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. General John J. ‘Black Jack’ Pershing leads his 1st Infantry Division troops past the grateful throngs.
2000 | ‘Cats,’ Broadway’s longest-running show, finally closes
The Jellicle Cats have their last pad around the New York stage as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ‘Cats closes after nearly 18 years. At a record-breaking 7,485 performances, it’s Broadway’s longest-running show and will retain that distinction until Webber unleashes a certain ‘Phantom to haunt the boards for an even longer run.

Today in History 09/10/17

Woodcut depicting damage in the Sept 10, 1509 earthquake in the sea of Marmara (Public Domain)(1509) Massive earthquake hits Constantinople
The North Anatolian Fault releases 7.2 magnitudes of energy under the Sea of Marmara close to the seat of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople, in what will one day be Turkey. The quake will earn its epithet, 'The Lesser Judgment Day,' with its immediate destructiveness and 45 days of seemingly endless aftershocks.
The 1509 Constantinople earthquake, referred to as "The Lesser Judgment Day" by contemporaries, occurred in the Sea of Marmara on 10 September 1509 at about 10pm. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 ± 0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale. A tsunami and forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake. Over a thousand houses and 109 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people died.
Date: Sep 10, 1509
1509 Great Istanbul Earthquake
Great Istanbul Earthquake (Little Judgment Day), 1509

wiki/1509_Constantinople_earthquake
4.4.j17


Today in History 09/10/17

Woodcut depicting damage in the Sept 10, 1509 earthquake in the sea of Marmara (Public Domain)(1509) Massive earthquake hits Constantinople
The North Anatolian Fault releases 7.2 magnitudes of energy under the Sea of Marmara close to the seat of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople, in what will one day be Turkey. The quake will earn its epithet, ‘The Lesser Judgment Day,’ with its immediate destructiveness and 45 days of seemingly endless aftershocks.
The 1509 Constantinople earthquake, referred to as “The Lesser Judgment Day” by contemporaries, occurred in the Sea of Marmara on 10 September 1509 at about 10pm. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 ± 0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale. A tsunami and forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake. Over a thousand houses and 109 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people died.
Date: Sep 10, 1509
1509 Great Istanbul Earthquake
Great Istanbul Earthquake (Little Judgment Day), 1509

wiki/1509_Constantinople_earthquake
4.4.j17