George Kiprotich "Kip" Rono (born 4 January 1958) is a Kenyan former

steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

runner. He won a gold medal in the event at the

1979 African Championships in Athletics The 1979 African Championships in Athletics were held in the Stade Iba Mar Diop in Dakar, Senegal, between 2 and 5 August. There were a total number of 251 competitors from 24 countries, with 23 men's and 16 women's events. Medal summary Men' ...

(becoming the inaugural champion) and was the first African steeplechase winner at the

1979 IAAF World Cup The 2nd IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on August 24–26, 1979, at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Overall resu ...

. Rono ranked second fastest in the world in 1980 with a time of 8:12.0 minutes, but missed the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

due to the boycott. He was a bronze medallist at both the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

in 1978, finishing behind

Henry Rono Henry Rono (born 12 February 1952, in Kapsabet) is a Kenyan retired track and field athlete who specialised in various long-distance running events. Although he never competed at the Olympics, Rono is remembered as one of the most prolific coll ...

. He represented his country at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

in 1983 and the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 1984.

Career

Rono first came to prominence at the age of twenty by winning bronze medals in the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, a ...

at both the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

and the

1978 All-Africa Games The 3rd All-Africa Games – Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event played from July 13, 1978, to July 28, 1978, in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports. At the closing ceremonies the ...

. At both events, there was a Kenyan medal sweep led by

and

James Munyala James Munyala (born November 2, 1952) is a Kenyan athlete, known for running the steeplechase. Running for the University of Texas, El Paso he won three straight NCAA Championships 1975–1977. His 1976 win set the Franklin Field record that sto ...

. (Contemporary news reports stated that he was Henry Rono's brother.) The following year he established himself in his own right by winning steeplechase gold medals at the

East and Central African Championships The East and Central African Championships was an annual international athletics competition between nations in East and Central Africa. The event was established as the East African Championships in 1955, building upon of international athletics ...

and the inaugural

(where he also claimed a

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 stan ...

bronze behind Ethiopia's

Miruts Yifter Miruts Yifter (, affectionately known as "Yifter the Shifter", 15 May 1944 – 22 December 2016) was an Ethiopian long-distance runner and winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. His date of birth is often given as 15 May 1944, t ...

and

Yohannes Mohamed Yohannes Mohammed ( am, ዮሐንስ መሐመድ; born 21 January 1948) is an Ethiopian former long-distance runner who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Ол� ...

. His position as one of the world's leading steeplechasers was cemented at the

, where he led by fifty metres before the last lap and became the first African man to win the steeplechase at that event. The following year he was affected by the

1980 Summer Olympics boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies later ...

. Despite a run of 8:12.0 minutes at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pie ...

in Rome – the second fastest that year after

Bronisław Malinowski Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropol ...

– he was unable to compete at a major competition. He did compete at the

Liberty Bell Classic The Liberty Bell Classic was a track and field athletics event organized by the Athletics Congress as part of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott and held at Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on July 16 and 17, 1980 ...

(Olympic Boycott Games) and while Malinowski took the steeplechase, Rono was the gold medallist in the 5000 m. He won back-to-back steeplechase titles at the

Kenyan Athletics Championships The Kenyan Athletics Championships is an annual track and field meeting which serves as Kenya's national championships for the sport. Athletics Kenya, the country's governing body for athletics organises the event. The championships is usually hel ...

in 1983 to 1984. However, upon entering top level international competitions he proved to be past his best. At the

1983 World Championships in Athletics The 1st 1983 World Championships in Athletics were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983. Summary The overall med ...

he ranked twentieth in the semi-finals with a time of 8:33.97 minutes. He went out in the first round at the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, finishing ninth in his heat with a time of 8:41.75 minutes. He declined in the steeplechase thereafter. His next international appearance came at the

1988 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1988 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Auckland, New Zealand, at the Ellerslie Racecourse on March 26, 1988. A report on the event was given in the ''Glasgow Herald''. Complete results for men, junior men, women, meda ...

. There he was part of a dominant Kenyan team led by

John Ngugi John Ngugi Kamau (born 10 May 1962), is a former Kenyan long-distance runner, often called one of the greatest cross country runners of all time and winner of the 5000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in Seoul South Korea. Career Born in Kigu ...

which took all top nine placings (bar Ethiopia's

Abebe Mekonnen Abebe Mekonnen (born 16 October 1964) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. Mekkonen was the winner of the 93rd Boston Marathon in 1989. He also competed for Ethiopia in the 1992 Olympics and 1996 Olympics in the marathon. He did not finish i ...

in fifth). Rono shared in the team gold medals for his eighth-place finish. Towards the end of his career, he focused on

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

. In 1988 he was fourth at the

Great Scottish Run The Great Scottish Run is a series of mass-participation road running events, held annually in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland in October. The event began as a full marathon in 1979, but later changed to a weekend of shorter events. The weekend ...

and set a

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

best of 1:00:52 hours to win the Semi Marathon du Lion. He was also runner-up at the

Giro Podistico di Pettinengo Giro or GIRO may refer to: Banking and Investments * Giro (banking), a direct payment from one bank account to another instigated by the payer * Girobank, a state owned and later privatised financial institution in the UK * GiroBank, a Danish ba ...

and placed third at the AAA 10 Kilometres Championship.

National titles

: 1983, 1984Kenyan Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rono, Kip Living people 1958 births Kenyan male steeplechase runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Olympic athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Kenya African Games bronze medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 All-Africa Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Career

National titles

International competitions

See also

References

External links