Onni Niskanen crouching on the grass, smiling at Abebe Bikila, who sits barefoot beside him in a running vest, under a wide pale sky.
Plate A-00A private presentation

A Swedish coach.A Finnish name.An Ethiopian legend.

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Born
Finland, 1910
Raised
Sweden
1941
Wounded in war
1946
Arrives in Ethiopia
Onni Niskanen, smiling, in a white shirt bearing the Ethiopian imperial emblem.
Plate B-01Permission to confirm

Onni Niskanen

Jato, Ethiopia, 1932.
Imperial Guard.
Running, every day.

Abebe Bikila, close-up, in a running vest, looking into the camera.
Plate B-02Permission to confirm

Abebe Bikila

Two lines · one field

Composition B — the convergence

Abebe Bikila and Onni Niskanen in conversation, each raising a finger as if counting or making a point.
Plate B-05Permission to confirm

Plate B-05

Posture. Technique. Endurance. Recovery.

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed

Interlude · the album

Nine prints, kept together.

Onni Niskanen and Abebe Bikila in Ethiopia Olympic tracksuits; Niskanen looks toward Abebe, who rests his head on his hand.
Side by side, in Olympic team tracksuits.E-04

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · date and place to be confirmed

Abebe Bikila in a training top standing before a stone wall beneath a draped flag.
Abebe, alone, before a stone wall.D-02

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · date and place to be confirmed

Onni Niskanen leaning over Abebe Bikila, who lies on a bed while Niskanen works on his leg.
Niskanen at work on Abebe's leg.E-02

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · album print; date and place to be confirmed

Abebe Bikila, wearing race bib number 1, stands with hands on hips beside Onni Niskanen at the roadside.
Bib number one. The coach at the roadside.E-03

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · race and date to be confirmed

Abebe Bikila descending aircraft steps marked Ethiopian.
Descending the steps.D-01

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · date and occasion to be confirmed

Three men beneath a Japanese paper parasol: a man in a light jacket, Abebe Bikila in a dark suit, and Onni Niskanen in a white shirt.
Beneath a paper parasol, Japan.E-05

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · Japan; date and the man at left to be confirmed

Onni Niskanen and Abebe Bikila in a playful boxing pose on a training field as athletes look on.
Sparring, in jest, on the training field.E-01

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · low-resolution copy; original print to be sourced

Abebe Bikila and a fellow traveller walk away from a TWA aircraft carrying their bags.
Arrival.D-03

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · date, place and second traveller to be confirmed

Abebe Bikila on a stationary bicycle wired to monitoring equipment, beside a woman in a white coat with a stethoscope.
Measured: breath, pulse, effort.G-01

Supplied by the project team · photographer and archive to be confirmed · date, place and clinician to be confirmed

Composition C — the Rome finish · Sources: World Athletics, Olympedia