Moses Kiptanui (born 1 October 1970) is a Kenyan middle and long distance athlete mostly famous for 3,000 m steeplechase in which he was the number one ranked athlete from 1991 to 1995 and three time IAAF World Champion. Kiptanui was also the first man ever to run 3000m steeplechase in under eight minutes.

Career

Kiptanui emerged in 1991 as a relatively unknown athlete. He won several IAAF Grand Prix races that season. He celebrated an especially spectacular victory in Zurich where he fell on the track on the last lap but still won easily. He was known as a highly confident and somewhat cocky athlete, who was self-coached and driven by his own self belief. His victory at the

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participa ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

therefore came as no surprise. To the great disappointment of many observers he was not included in the Kenyan team 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 ...

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 ...

. Kiptanui had failed to qualify at the Kenyan trials in Nairobi. However, shortly after the Olympics he set a new world record over 3000m in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

with a time of 7:28.96 min. Only three days later he also broke the 3000m steeplechase world record in 8:02.08 in Zurich. The following year, he defended the World Championship title easily in Stuttgart. He won the steeplechase at the

1994 IAAF World Cup The 7th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 9–11, 1994, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, Engl ...

. In 1995 he broke the 5000m world record in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in a time of 12:55.30 min (8 June). After collecting his third World Championship gold medal in Gothenburg he also set the new 3000m steeplechase record in Zurich in a time of 7:59.18 min (16 August), the first man in history to ever dip under eight minutes for the 3000m steeplechase. A year later, he missed out on an Olympic gold medal again when he came second in the final in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. He was defeated by fellow Kenyan

Joseph Keter Joseph Keter (born June 13, 1969) is a former Kenyan athlete, winner of 3000 m steeplechase at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Born in Lessos, Nandi District, Joseph Keter, an officer of Kenyan Army, had only one good season throughout his athle ...

. The next year, at the

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, Kiptanui failed to win his fourth consecutive gold medal, but took silver. The winner was

Wilson Boit Kipketer Wilson Boit Kipketer (born 6 October 1973 in Kenya) is a middle and long distance athlete most widely known for running the 3000 m steeplechase. On 13 August 1997, at the Weltklasse Zürich, he set the world record in the steeplechase at 7:5 ...

, also from Kenya. He was still active in 2001 sighting the 2002 Commonwealth Games, but did not compete there. After retirement, he has been a running coach. In 2008 he coached the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, Ezekiel Kemboi. He has also been the chairman of the Marakwet District branch of

Athletics Kenya Athletics Kenya (AK) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (track and field) in Kenya. It is a member of World Athletics and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan tea ...

.Daily Nation, June 5, 2000
Polls open a new chapter in KAAA
/ref> His younger brother, Philemon Tanui, runs for University of Wyoming. A school was built by Shoe4Africa to honor the lifetime achievements of Kiptanui. The Shoe4Africa Moses Kiptanui School was opened in 2012 at Kamoi district, Marakwet and has eight primary classes with 320 students. Two ancillary early childhood development classes were added in 2015. Major achievements *1990 ** 1990 African Championships in Athletics -

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. ***1500m gold medal ** 1990 IAAF World Junior Championships - Plovdiv,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. ***1500m gold medal *1991 **

, Japan. ***3000m steeplechase gold medal **

1991 All-Africa Games The 5th All-Africa Games were held from September 20 to October 1, 1991, in Cairo, Egypt. Forty-three countries participated in eighteen sports. For the first time the Games were held on a four-year cycle as planned. Egypt had hoped to use the G ...

- Cairo, Egypt. ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1993 **

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

- Stuttgart,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1994 **

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relati ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. ***5000m gold medal *1995 ** 1995 World Championships in Athletics - Gothenburg, Sweden. ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1996 **

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, ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. ***3000 m steeplechase silver medal *1997 **

. ***3000m steeplechase silver medal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiptanui, Moses 1970 births Living people People from Elgeyo-Marakwet County Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male steeplechase runners Olympic male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 All-Africa Games World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games