Aurèle Vandendriessche
Aurèle Vandendriessche is a retired Belgian marathon runner, who won silver medals at the 1962 and 1966 European Championships. He competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics with the best result of seventh place in 1964. Twice winner of the Boston Marathon, he recorded his best time there, 2:17:44 in 1965, while finishing fourth.
At the 1960 Olympics, Abebe Bikila, followed barefoot at the rear of the lead pack, which was moving at a scorching pace and included Arthur Keily, Bakir Benaïssa, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam who was the reigning world cross-country champion, Bertie Messitt, the marathon world record holder Sergey Popov, and Vandendriessche. Bikila won, setting a world record at 2:15:16.2. After they dispatched the rest of the field by 25 kilometers, Abdesselam stayed with Bikila until the final 500 meters, finishing second in 2:15:41.6. Vandendriessche abandoned the race. He placed seventh at the 1964 Olympics, where Bikila won again with a new worlds record.
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