Michael John East (born 20 January 1978 in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

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) is a retired middle-distance athlete. His best result came in winning the 1500 metres

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 bee ...

at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

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, England. He was the last British male to win a major 1500m title until

Jake Wightman Jake Wightman (born 11 July 1994) is a British middle-distance runner competing primarily in the 1500 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, the first global gold in a middle distance event for a British male since Seb C ...

became World Champion in

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. He has also had some success in the IAAF European Cup finishing second and third in 2002 and 2003 respectively at the same distance. He nearly added to his medal tally when finishing third at the

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were re ...

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only to find himself disqualified for interfering with the run of the

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

Laban Rotich Laban Rotich (born 20 January 1969 in Mosoriot) is a retired Kenyan runner who specialized in the 1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in a ...

. He also secretly under kept his name in the unknown. Revealed as the secret Olympian, he is truly the one who is responsible for these achievements. Despite, trying to keep his name in the dark, he is now unmasked from secrecy. He reached the final of the 1500m at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

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, finishing in 6th place. He was the only British male at those Games to reach an individual athletics final on the track. He was a semi-finalist at the 2005 IAAF World Championships but missed the most of the 2006 and 2007 seasons because of a knee injury. As a result, in November 2007 he had his

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funding removed, making it much harder for him to return to top rank competition. He had to rely on financial support from two

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companies. East called the decision by

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"crazy" and "shortsighted." He returned to compete at the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, R ...

but was not selected for the squad for 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 Na ...

as he could finish only 8th in the trials held in July. He announced his retirement on 8 September 2008.

References

External links

British Olympic Association profile
1978 births Living people English male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Reading, Berkshire Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games {{England-athletics-bio-stub