Augustine Kiprono Choge (born 21 January 1987) is a Kenyan middle distance and long distance

runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

. He won world youth and junior titles on the track in 2003 and 2004, eventually going on to set a world junior record for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

in 2005. In his final year as a junior he won the World Cross Country Junior title. He claimed the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stand ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, but began to focus more on the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athlet ...

from then on. He reached the 1500 m finals at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. Choge broke the long-standing 4×1500 metres relay

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

with a Kenyan team of runners in September 2009.

Career

Choge was born in 1987 to a family of small-scale farmers at Kipsigak, near

Kapsabet Kapsabet is a town in Kenya. It is the capital of Nandi County and is located 40 kilometres southwest of Eldoret on the way to Chavakali. The name Kapsabet comes from "Kap"- 'belong to/area of' and "sabit" or "sobet" – 'live' and has come to ...

in the

Nandi District Nandi County is a Counties of Kenya, county in Kenya in the North Rift, occupying an area of 2,884.4 square kilometres. Its capital, Kapsabet, is the largest town in the county while other towns include Mosoriot, Tinderet Constituency, Tinderet ...

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Bonde la Ufa) of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the Kenyan general election, 2013. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

.Manners, John (2005-03-14)
Focus on Athletes - Augustine Choge
.

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. Retrieved on 2011-02-06. He won national secondary schools

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

in 2002. At the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships he finished fourth in the Junior race and won

as a part of the junior team. He competed at the 2003 East African Youth Championships in May in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

and won three gold medals, in

800 __NOTOC__ Year 800 ( DCCC) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was around this time that the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years, so f ...

1500 Year 1500 ( MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, who thought it ...

and

. At the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics he won the 3000 metres race. He holds the 3000 metres world junior record set in May 2005 in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, the previous record (7:30.67) was held by

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

, set in 2001. Choge graduated from Kabikwen Secondary School in 2004. At the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics he won

race. At the

2004 IAAF World Athletics Final The 2nd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 18, and September 19, 2004. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary a week previous as the Monaco sta ...

he was third in 5000 metres. At the

2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 19/20, 2005. The races were held at the Hippodrome Joseph Desjoyaux in Saint-Galmier near Saint-Étienne, France. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', i ...

he won the junior race and junior team race. At the

2005 IAAF World Athletics Final The 3rd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 9, and September 10, 2005. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary on September 3 as the Monaco stad ...

he finished third in 3000 metres. On 20 March 2006, he won the men's 5000 metres event at the

with a time of 12 minutes, 56.41 seconds. This is the current Commonwealth Games record. Augustine Choge competed at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and finished tenth in the 1500 m final. He came fifth over 1500 m on his debut at the

in August. In 2009 he was part of the Kenyan team that set a new the 4 x 1500 metres relay

, 14:36.23 minutes. Other members of the team were William Biwott Tanui, Gideon Gathimba and Geoffrey Rono. The previous record in this rarely competed event was set by

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

in 1977, making it the oldest world record when it was broken. He ran the fastest qualifying time in the 3000 m at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation T ...

, but failed to repeat his form in the final and finished in eleventh place. He took his first win of the 2010 IAAF Diamond League in the 1500 m at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix and ended the year as second in the Diamond rankings behind

Asbel Kiprop Asbel Kipruto Kiprop (born 30 June 1989) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, who specialises in the 1500 metres. He was awarded the 1500 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics after the original winner, Rashid Ramzi, tested positive for ...

. The start of the 2011 season saw him move up to the fourth fastest runner of all-time over the 3000 m indoors, running a time of 7:28.00 minutes while event winner Yenew Alamirew became the world's third fastest man. In October 2019, Choge joined the pacemaker team for the Ineos 1:59 Challenge to help fellow Kenyan athlete

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 ...

run a sub-two hour marathon distance. Choge is managed by James Templeton and coached by

Colm O'Connell Brother Colm O'Connell is an Irish missionary and athletics coach, known as "the Godfather of Kenyan running". O'Connell is originally from Caherduggan, Mallow, County Cork. He joined the Patrician Brothers at the age of 14, training in Tullow, ...

.Running the Show
Sydney Morning Herald June 16, 2012. Retrieved on 2012-06-23.

Achievements

Personal bests

*All information taken from World Athletics profile.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choge, Augustine 1987 births Living people Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Kenya World record holders in athletics (track and field) People from Nandi County Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Kenyan male cross country runners