- Abebe Bikila: It is for others to dwell on the victory. But for a champion, the lasting memory is always the loss in the race unfinished. It is this race which makes a nation's hero or merely a man. My race is now unfinished. And I'm just Abebe Bikila
- Title card: [at the beginning of the film] "... the distant Ethiopians, the father outposts of mankind, half of whom live where the sun goes down, half where the sun rises." Homer, The Odyssey
- Onni: Running and winning are two different things. You can have a great runner, but without the man inside, you won't have a winner.
- Title card: [at the end of the film] Beyond igniting East Africa's dominance in long distance running, Bikila became a quiet champion of hope for a continent that was in the midst of its struggle for self domination. It was said: It took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome.