Nancy Langat

Nancy Jebet Langat (born 22 August 1981) is a Kenyan middle distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. She won the 1500 metre final at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in a personal best time of 4:00.23.

She also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2005 World Championships without reaching the finals. In her younger days she mainly competed in the 800 metres, and was successful as a junior.

She won gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and became the second Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold. The first one was Pamela Jelimo, who won 800 metres at the same Olympics.

At the 2009 World Championships, Langat did not advance past semifinals, but finished the season with a win at the World Athletics Final.

She is married to marathon runner Kenneth Cheruiyot. Her oldest son turned six on the day that she won Olympic Gold. She is recruited by Kenya Air Force and is based at the Moi Air Base in Nairobi.^[1] Her father Joseph Langat was an international level long-distance runner.^[2]

In 2010 she won the prestigious Diamond League tally for the 1500 meters. She went undefeated in all of her races against the best runners in the world.

During her appearance in the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup on September 5, 2010, Nancy Langat broke out controversy as she grabbed Hind Dehiba by the arm as they were near the finish line on the 1500m Split. As Nancy tried to pull Hind down by the arm in the final meters as what was clearly an attempt to drop her, Nancy herself fell down face first on the track and Hind took the victory. Nancy, who could have taken 2nd place points at that race, finished in 8th place after her dramatic face plant on the track.^[3] She won the Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year award in 2010.^[4]

Achievements

References

• IAAF profile for Nancy Langat