He entered the October 21 marathon wearing Puma shoes. This was in contrast to the previous Olympics in Rome, where he ran barefoot. Abebe began the race right behind the lead pack until about the mark, when he slowly increased his pace. At , he was in third place behind Ron Clarke of Australia—who had been upset by Billy Mills in the 10,000 meters—and Jim Hogan of Ireland. Shortly before , Abebe took the lead; only Hogan was in contention, as Clarke began to slow. By , Abebe was almost two-and-a-half minutes in front of Hogan and Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan was 17 seconds behind Hogan in third place. Hogan soon dropped out, exhausted, leaving only Tsuburaya three minutes behind Abebe by the mark.