Asbel Kipruto Kiprop (born 30 June 1989) is a Kenyan

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

, who specialises 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 athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

. He was awarded the 1500 m

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 be ...

at 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 Nat ...

after the original winner, Rashid Ramzi, tested positive for doping.Olympic champ's dope test confirmed
''The Times'' (South Africa). 7 July 2009 Kiprop has won three

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

titles in the event, in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. Kiprop failed his own doping test in November 2017 and received a four-year doping ban. He won his first major title at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Niger ...

, taking the 1500 m gold medal, and also won the event at the

2010 African Championships in Athletics The 2010 African Championships in Athletics was held in Nairobi, Kenya from 28 July to 1 August 2010. Background The African Championships in Athletics were held in Kenya for the first time. Previously two major athletics events have been held i ...

, improving upon a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

performance from 2008. His personal best for the distance is 3:26.69.

Career

The 2007 season became his breakthrough year, when he won junior race gold medal at the

2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 24, 2007. The races were held at the Mombasa Golf Course in Mombasa, Kenya. Four races took place, one for men, women, junior men and junior women respectively. All races enco ...

and then the 1500 m gold at the

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 ...

. He ran a personal best to finish fourth in the 1500 m at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. In recognition of his achievements, he won the Most Promising Sportsman of the Year category at the 2007

Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year Kenyan Sport Personality of the Year Awards, also known as SOYA Awards, are annual national awards given for sports personalities and organisations in Kenya. The awards were initiated in 2004 by Paul Tergat. The awards for each year are held at th ...

awards.

Asbel Kiprop winning the 1500m at the 2016 Doha Diamond League Meeting

He ran at the

2008 African Championships in Athletics The 16th African Championships in Athletics was held in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, from April 30 to May 4, 2008. The competition venue was the Addis Ababa Stadium. It is the largest Athletics event held in Ethiopia to date. It was t ...

and took the bronze medal in the 800 m and came fourth in the 1500 m race. At the

2008 Beijing 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 Nat ...

, Kiprop was narrowly beaten by Bahraini Rashid Ramzi for the gold medal. However, Kiprop was awarded the gold medal after Ramzi tested positive for CERA, a banned substance which is a newer version of the more commonly known EPO. He is the youngest ever winner of the title, a record previously held by Arnold Jackson since 1912. Kiprop has stated he is not very happy about the way he won the gold medal. He ended the year with a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final, finishing behind the African champion

Haron Keitany Haron Keitany (born December 17, 1983) is a runner from Kenya, who specialises in 1500 metres. In 2008, he won 1500 metres races at the African Championships, the IAAF Golden League meeting of Weltklasse Zürich, and World Athletics Final. H ...

. At the

2009 World Athletics Championships The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, Kiprop disappointed many when he finished fourth for the second time in the 1500 m.Mutwiri Mutuota (20 August 2009)
Jepkosgei bags silver as Kiprop disappoints
''Reuters''. Kiprop also participated in the 800 m but was eliminated in the semi-finals. He won the gold in the 1500 m at the

, running a championship record time of 3:36.19 to win in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ...

. He competed on the

2010 IAAF Diamond League The 2010 Diamond League season was the first season of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 14 May in Doha, Qatar and ended on 27 August in Brussels, Belgium. Superseding the Europ ...

circuit that year and after victories at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bisl ...

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the Universi ...

and

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Cha ...

, he went on to secure the inaugural 1500 m Diamond League title with a win at the final event at the Memorial van Damme. He represented Africa at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup, but managed only sixth place. He ran at the 2011 Great Edinburgh Cross Country in January, taking second place in the short race behind Eliud Kipchoge. Later that year he became world champion over 1500 m, defeating his Kenyan rival,

Silas Kiplagat Silas Kiplagat (born 20 August 1989) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. He has a personal best of 3:27.64 minutes, which makes him the fifth fastest of all-time over the distance. Born in Siboh Village, Mar ...

at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. Kiprop ran the final 800 meters of the race well under 1:50 and the final 400 meters in 51 seconds plus. Kiprop was leading in the rankings of the

2011 IAAF Diamond League The 2011 IAAF Diamond League (also known as the 2011 Samsung Diamond League for sponsorship purposes) was the second edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 6 May in Doha, Q ...

, having won at the

Dream Mile and placed second at the Shanghai, Paris and Stockholm meets. However, at the event final at the Weltklasse Zürich, he managed only seventh while Nixon Chepseba won to take the seasonal title. He had his best cross country race since he was a junior runner at the Edinburgh race in 2012, defeating a field which contained Kipchoge and

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

. In July 2013, he won the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world re ...

(Monaco Diamond League) 1500 in a time of 3:27.72, making him the fourth fastest man ever at the distance yet still not achieving the meet record. On 18 August, at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Kiprop won the 1500 metres in 3:36.28. In 2015, Kiprop set a meeting record for 1500 metres at the Monaco Diamond League event in a time of 3:26.69. This puts him third on the all-time list over the distance. One month later, Kiprop won his third consecutive 1500 meter world championship title in Beijing. In 2016, Kiprop failed to win another Olympic Title in

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

, finishing in a disappointing sixth place. He blamed his shock loss on the fact that his fellow countryman

Elijah Manangoi Elijah Motonei Manangoi (born 5 January 1993) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He competed in the 1500 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing winning the silver medal and at the 2017 World Championships, where he won t ...

was not present in the race.Chasing forbidden fruit?
The Standard (30 March 2009). Matthew Centrowitz of the USA won the race in a time of 3:50:00, one of the slowest winning 1500m times in Olympic history.

Doping implications

On May 2, 2018, it was first reported that Kiprop had tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO in November 2017. The test results were later confirmed by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

Athletics Integrity Unit The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) was founded by the International Association of Athletics Federations in April 2017 to combat doping in the sport of athletics. The unit functions fully independently from the IAAF. It is currently led by head Br ...

. Kiprop maintained that he would fight to prove his innocence, but he was found guilty and given a four-year doping ban in April 2019. In April 2019, he threatened to harm the IAAF and National Police Service by saying on Twitter "I pray to National Police Service to dismiss me Now. Before I use their machinery to earn myself Justice. Kindly. IAAF come take your medals."

Personal life

Kiprop is from Kaptinga village, near

Eldoret Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town was referred to by white settlers as Farm 64, 64 and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population ...

. He is a son of David and Julia Kebenei. His father David Kebenei was also an athlete, who participated in the 1987 All-Africa Games in Kenya and finished fourth in the 1500 metres race. Kiprop started running at the age of 13, while at Simat School. Later he dropped out of high-school to concentrate on training.
Kiprop pledges to 'rule the world'
'. Daily Nation (17 August 2007). Kiprop trains at the ''Kipchoge Keino High Performance Training Centre'' in Eldoret. He was, however, expelled from the camp in 2009 for breaking the rules by bringing his girlfriend to the centre. His younger brother Victor Kipchirchir Kebenei is also a 1500 metres runner. After being handed a 4 year ban for doping violations, Kiprop turned to his close friends for support. This led to a release of a semi-nude show that publicly displayed the adultery between Kiprop and his friend's wife. "I was desperate. It is too much. I wanted attention. I hate what I am feeling. When people tell me not to post how I am feeling on social media, I do not know how to stop,” Kiprop states. Kiprop has stated his first name, Asbel, means determined.Kiprop, the future of 1500m running?
Iaaf.org (17 July 2008). Retrieved on 9 August 2012.

Statistics

Personal bests

All Information taken from IAAF profile.Athlete profile for Asbel Kiprop
Asbel Kiprop biography
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Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiprop, Asbel 1989 births Living people People from Uasin Gishu County Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan sportspeople in doping cases Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic gold medalists for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics record holders (relay) Kenyan male cross country runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 All-Africa Games Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Kenyan people