Stephen Kiprotich

Stephen Kiprotich ("KIP-roh-tich", born 27 February 1989) is a Ugandan long-distance runner, born in Kapchorwa District. He is an Olympic marathon champion, having won gold at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He also won gold at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. He is the second person, after Gezahegne Abera, to follow an Olympic marathon gold medal with a world championship gold medal for the same event.

Not to be confused with Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich.

Stephen Kiprotich
Kiprotich at the Paris Half Marathon, March 2014
Personal information
NationalityUgandan
Born (1989-02-27) 27 February 1989
Kapchorwa District, Uganda
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) (2012)
Weight56 kg (123 lb) (2012)
Sport
SportRunning
Event(s)Long distance
TeamNN Running Team
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
Personal best(s)
  • Marathon: 2:06:33 (2015, NR)
  • 10,000 Metres: 27:58.03 (2010)
  • 5,000 Metres: 13:23.70 (2008)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Uganda
Olympic Games
2012 London Marathon
World Championships
2013 Moscow Marathon

He clinched the Olympic gold 2012 Olympic champion 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 Olympic gold medal for the country since 1972, and the country's first ever in the marathon.[3] He won the Moscow IAAF championship marathon on 17 August 2013.

Biography

Kiprotich 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]

Kiprotich 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]

Kiprotich 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.

In 2014, Kiprotich took part and completed the New York City Marathon in 2:13:25.[11] Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich was the winner in 2:10.59.[12] In February 2015, he ran a new personal best in the marathon of 2:06:33 in finishing second at the Tokyo Marathon.[13]

In 2015, Kiprotich appeared in Jayant Maru's film SIPI the movie, a Ugandan produced film.[14]

gollark: What if we do some kind of zzcxz roleplay?
gollark: I've asked about Minoteaur on esolangs now since lyricly is being so unhelpful.
gollark: Sometimes I have lunch earlier than that for reasons.
gollark: I dislike this.
gollark: Reminders and self-delusion.

References
  1. "Stephen Kiprotich". www.london2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  2. Longman, Jeré (12 August 2012). "Ugandan Kiprotich Surges Past 2 Kenyans to Win Marathon Gold". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  3. "Kiprotich wins marathon for Uganda". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. Bashaija, Sande (31 May 2007). "Kiprotich doesn't regret dumping school for athletics". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  5. "Stephen Kiprotich's Olympic marathon win gives Uganda second gold ever". The Guardian. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  6. "Kiprotich strikes historic gold". IAAF. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  7. Tempomacher überrascht alle Retrieved on 2010-08-12.
  8. "Tokyo Marathon Result – Top finisher by category – Marathon". Tokyo Marathon 2012 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  9. 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
  10. Bashaija, Sande (21 January 2013). "Kiprotich crowned 2012's best, shifts focus to Moscow mission". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  11. "Kiprotich finishes fifth at New York Marathon". The New Vision. New Vision. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  12. "Bump Propels Kenyan to Men's Title". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  13. personal best IAAF
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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