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

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

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, Matthew Birir started running, when he attended at the famous St. Patrick's High School in

Iten Iten is a town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County in the Republic of Kenya. Iten serves as the capital and is the largest town in the county. The town is located along the road between Eldoret and Kabarnet at the junction of the road heading to Kapsowar. ...

, 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 modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, 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

Alessandro Lambruschini Alessandro Lambruschini (born 7 January 1965) is an Italian former long-distance runner who specialized in the 3000 metres steeplechase Biography Lambruschini participated at three editions of the Summer Olympics (1988, 1992, 1996), he has 40 ca ...

, 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