Matthew Kiprotich Birir (born 5 July 1972) is a former athlete from

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

, winner of 3000 m steeplechase at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Biography

Born in

Eldama Ravine Eldama Ravine is a town in Baringo County, Kenya, a few miles north of the equator, geographical coordinates 0° 30' 0" North, 35° 43' 0" East. It was established as an administrative point by British colonialists and later served as a transit r ...

, Matthew Birir started running, when he attended at the famous St. Patrick's High School in Iten, where many great Kenyan runners are rosen.

Career

At the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Olympics, the main favourite was

Patrick Sang Patrick Sang (born 11 April 1964) is a Kenyan running coach and retired steeplechase runner. Sang won three silver medals in major 3000 m steeplechase competitions: *1991 World Championships in Athletics * 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics * ...

. At the Olympic final, it was soon clear, that all the medals are going to Kenya. At the last lap, the 20-year-old Birir outsprinted his older countryman Sang to win a gold 0.69 seconds ahead of latter. At the 1993 World Championships Birir was beaten to fourth by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Alessandro Lambruschini, who repeated this feat three years later at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, so Birir had to settle again with fourth place.

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic male steeplechase runners Olympic gold medalists for Kenya Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya {{kenya-athletics-bio-stub