Stephen Kiprotich
 Kiprotich at the 2012 London Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Ugandan | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
27 February 1989 Kapchorwa District, Uganda | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) (2012) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 56 kilograms (123 lb) (2012) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Running | ||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Long distance | ||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||
Stephen Kiprotich (born 27 February 1989) is a Ugandan long-distance runner, born in Kapchorwa District. He is the 2012 Olympic champion in the marathon, with a winning time of 2:08:01 in hot, sunny, and humid conditions.[1][2] This was the first Olympic medal for Uganda since 1996, the first gold medal since 1972, and the first ever in the marathon.[3] His winning of the Moscow IAAF championship marathon on 17 August 2013 has made him the reigning World and Olympic marathon champion.
Biography
He is the youngest of seven children of subsistence farmers from Kapchorwa District, near the Uganda-Kenya border. As a child, he missed three years of elementary school due to an undiagnosed illness. From 2004 to 2006, he quit athletics to concentrate on school.[4] Then, at the age of 17, he quit school and moved to the Eldoret region of Kenya, in the Rift Valley, to train for the marathon with Eliud Kipchoge. He was assisted by A Running Start, a non-profit foundation based in New York.[2][5][6]
He ran a personal best in the marathon of 2:07:20 in 2011 at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands, which set a new course record for the Enschede Marathon and a new Ugandan record in athletics.[7] He finished third in the 2012 Tokyo Marathon with a time of 2:07:50.[8]
He was inspired in part by John Akii-Bua, the only previous Ugandan Olympic gold medalist, who won the 400 metres hurdles in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, setting a new world record in the process.[9] He then went on to win the London 2012 Olympic Marathon, ahead of Kenyan runners Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich who finished second and third respectively.
In 2012, Kiprotich won the Nile Special-Uspa Sports Personality of the Year award, the Ugandan sports award.[10]
In 2013, Kiprotich won the IAAF Moscow 2013 Marathon in 2:09:51 to grab the Gold Medal.
Kiprotich is considered a national hero, mostly based upon his gold medal, but also his other athletic achievements.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ "Stephen Kiprotich". www.london2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Longman, Jeré (12 August 2012). "Ugandan Kiprotich Surges Past 2 Kenyans to Win Marathon Gold". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ↑ "Kiprotich wins marathon for Uganda". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ↑ Bashaija, Sande (2007-05-31). "Kiprotich doesn’t regret dumping school for athletics". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
- ↑ "Stephen Kiprotich's Olympic marathon win gives Uganda second gold ever". The Guardian. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ↑ "Kiprotich strikes historic gold". IAAF. August 12, 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ↑ Tempomacher überrascht alle Retrieved on 2010-08-12.
- ↑ "Tokyo Marathon Result – Top finisher by category – Marathon". Tokyo Marathon 2012 (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ↑ Brown, Oliver (12 August 2012). "Stephen Kiprotich becomes Uganda's second ever Olympic gold medallist with historic men's marathon victory". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 August 2012. "John Akii-Bua, who had claimed Uganda’s only other Olympic gold with a world record in the 400 metres hurdles in 1972"
- ↑ Bashaija, Sande (2013-01-21). "Kiprotich crowned 2012’s best, shifts focus to Moscow mission". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
External links
Media related to Stephen Kiprotich at Wikimedia Commons- Stephen Kiprotich profile at IAAF
- Official Facebook Fanpage
- www.kiprotich.co.ug
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||