... that Abebe Bikila (pictured) was not sponsored by Adidas and he did not carry "the fucking shoes" in the men's marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics? Alex Shih, Cwmhiraeth, Janweh64.

Here for a few things:

1. I don't understand the hook really, presumably many individuals were not sponsored by Adidas?
2. It's not clear why anyone would be "carrying" shoes, "fucking" or otherwise, in a marathon.
3. I'm struggling to make the link between clause A and clause B.
4. This will no doubt get the "think of the children" treatment if it runs with that swearing, but that's a side-issue.

Perhaps someone could elucidate. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:07, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

The fact that you have difficulty understanding the hook means that it is "hooky"; you will need to read the article to understand its significance. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 08:39, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Not at all, I just pass it by thinking that it's somehow an error. If it's designed to be "quirky" then it shouldn't be in slot number one. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:43, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

So, a comedian made a non-notable joke filled with factual errors decades after the death of this great athlete, and that is the hook we choose to highlight this GA? It's the kind of information which shouldn't even be in the article in the first place, never mind "gracing" our front page. "The fact that you have difficulty understanding the hook means that it is "hooky"" is the kind of response one might expect here from some though. No, this doesn't make the hook "hooky" at all. If this was some well-known meme that got debunked, fine. But this? This isn't hooky, it's the typical frustrating trivia which some people here confuse with interesting, enticing, noteworthy, or even mildly amusing facts. Fram (talk) 09:20, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Some thoughts...

1. This hook is not quirky, it's weird. With the Robin Williams joke / meme not well known, it's also obscure, at best.
2. Since when did jokes become RS for hook content – see the nomination
3. The quotation is misleading, as it appears in the hook to come from Adebe.
4. The "fucking" was situationally appropriate in the joke, I guess... here, it is gratuitous.
5. This should be pulled and a new hook proposed for the 7 August date requested.

Possible hooks might be:

• (ALT1): ... that Abebe Bikila (pictured) was the first man to successfully defend an Olympic marathon gold medal, and did so by breaking his own world record?
• (ALT2): ... that Abebe Bikila (pictured) set a world record in winning the 1960 Men's Olympic marathon, and ran the race in bare feet / without shoes?
• (ALT3): ... that Abebe Bikila (pictured) won consecutive Olympic gold medals in the Men's Marathon, both in world record times, the first without shoes / in bare feet?

We can surely come up with something better than the hook presently in the prep. EdChem (talk) 12:37, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

• Thank you, EdChem. ALT1 is very good, but there is no inline cite to the fact that it was his own world record that he broke. ALT2 is good, but I think ALT3 is even better, as it mentions both his Olympic wins. The ALT3 hook refs are verified and cited inline. Promoting ALT3 to prep. Yoninah (talk) 18:17, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Chiming in late here, but to be honest I like the original hook a lot—it made me click over to see what it meant when I saw it in the nominations pile, which is basically the point of a hook. ALT3 is a cool standalone fact, which doesn't require reading the article to conceptualize. ALT0 is fun, interesting, and requires a click-through. --Usernameunique (talk) 21:18, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

All Alt hooks are vastly superior than the promoted one. Thanks to Ed for creating some viable options. I prefer some variation on alt 2. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:28, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Complete and utter bullshit. This is how the article appeared before I began working on it and improved it to GA: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abebe_Bikila&oldid=759090731 It contained the following misinformation taken from a horrible "biographical" book written by Paul Rambeli, a work of fiction clearly labeled that Wikipedia editors failed to see as an unreliable source.

• "Abebe was included in the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave"
• "Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Abebe went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he couldn't use them"

This was propagated by Robin Williams, by a joke perhaps made now notable with Wikipedia's help in spreading it.^[1][2][3] These false statements have been spread by Wikipedia since March 3, 2007 (TEN YEARS AGO!): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abebe_Bikila&diff=prev&oldid=112385552 Think of the damage done since then.

This hook was an attempt to offer a retraction and correction. None of the ALT hooks are hooky. The ALT statements are things most people, with any interest in the subject, already know. If this hook offends your sensibilities save it for April 1. I object to changing the hook. And ask for a serious consideration as the person who has worked months to get this article to where it is. I suspect none of the people above care about the RS or Notability issues they mention. This is an attempt to remove the "fucking" by any means, which is exactly what makes it hooky. —አቤል ዳዊት^?(Janweh64) (talk) 04:39, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

Firstly, WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS. Secondly, DYK isn't necessarily for people "with any interest in the subject", it's on the main page so will attract allcomers. Thirldy, no-one said it offends their sensibilities, just "fair warning" was given concerning the fact that using such expletives on the main page invariably results in drama. So in summary, no, it's not "an attempt to remove the "fucking" by any means" by any means, it's an attempt to generate a hook that's readable and interesting, the original hook was neither of these. The Rambling Man (talk) 05:59, 3 August 2017 (UTC)