Charles Waweru Kamathi (born 18 May 1978, near

Nyeri, Kenya Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...

) is a Kenyan

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

. He is best known for winning the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

distance at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.

Career

Early life and career

Kamathi started running in 1995. He graduated from Njogu-Ini Secondary School in 1996. In 1997 he went to run for Toyota club in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, but had to leave back home only after days later due to

tendinitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder (rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow (tennis elbo ...

and Toyota replaced him with

Simon Maina Simon Maina Munyi (born 18 March 1978) is a Kenyan former long-distance runner who competed in track and road running events. In his first year of international competition, he was the gold medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 1998 Commonwealt ...

. Kamathi joined Kenya Police in 1998. On 3 September 1999 he made his international breakthrough by winning a 10000 metres race at the Memorial Van Damme meeting in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

by running 26:51.49, then the fifth best time ever and the world's fastest time in 1999.IAAF
Focus on Africa - Charles Waweru Kamathi (KEN)
/ref> Following this, he took to the European

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

circuit and beat multiple world champion

Paul Tergat Paul Kibii Tergat (born 17 June 1969) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished l ...

three times, taking victories at the

Almond Blossom Cross Country The Almond Blossom Cross Country ( pt, Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor) is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Albufeira, in the Algarve region of Portugal, in early March. It is one of the IAA ...

Cross Internacional de Itálica The Cross Internacional de Itálica is an annual cross country running competition that is held every January in Santiponce, near Seville, Spain. Inaugurated in 1982, the race course is set in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Itálica. As ...

and

Cinque Mulini The Cinque Mulini is an annual cross country running race in San Vittore Olona, Italy. First held in 1933, the course is unusual in that it revolves around a number of water mills along Olona river, which lend the competition its name – meaning ...

race.Civai, Franco (2009-03-09)
Amendoeiras em Flor (Almond Blossom) 10 km and 6 km

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2010-03-10.Cinque Mulini Men's winners
. Cinque Mulini. Retrieved on 2010-02-05.Civai, Franco & Gasparovic, Juraj (2010-01-18)

. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. Despite a poor finish at the Kenya World trials event, he was selected for the

2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 18/19, 2000. The races were held at the Sporting Complex in Vilamoura, Portugal. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAA ...

. He did not live up to his circuit form and was seventh place in the long race, behind four of his compatriots. His 2000 season was hampered by a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury and he did not managed to make the Kenyan team for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

World champion

Fully recovered, he returned to the European cross country meets and won again at the Cinque Mulini and Itálica races. He qualified for the

2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 24/25, 2001. The races were held at the Hippodrome Wellington in Ostend (Oostende), Belgium. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the ''Herald'', ...

and won his first major medal in the men's long race. Kamathi won the

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 ...

(behind

Mohammed Mourhit Mohammed Mourhit ( ar, محمد مُرحيت; born 10 October 1970 in Khouribga, Morocco) is a Belgian top cross country, middle and long-distance runner who holds one European record, in the 3000 m. He is also a former European 10000 m record ...

and Serhiy Lebid) and led a Kenyan team which included

Paul Kosgei Paul Malakwen Kosgei (born 22 April 1978, in Marakwet) is a Kenyan long-distance and marathon runner. He first came to prominence in athletics by taking the World Junior Record of 3000m steeple in 1997, and later with consecutive medals at the ...

and

Patrick Ivuti Patrick Mukutu Ivuti (born June 30, 1978, Machakos, Kenya) is a Kenyan long distance athlete, who currently resides in Nairobi, Kenya. A two-time silver medallist at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, he made his marathon debut in 2005 ...

to the team

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 ...

. An even greater achievement awaited him at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

. He took on defending world champion

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

in the 10,000 m and managed to beat both him and Olympic medallist

Assefa Mezgebu Assefa Mezgebu (born June 19, 1978 in Sidamo) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner, most known for winning a bronze medal in the 10,000 metres event at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He was also the runner-up at the 2001 World Championships i ...

to the line in the final lap, taking the world

in the event. The victory, in which Kamathi sprinted from fourth to first in the final 200 metres, broke Haile's undefeated streak of 37 races. In September he competed at the 10-mile

Dam tot Damloop Dam tot Damloop (''Dam to Dam Run'' in English) is an annual road running competition held in North Holland in the Netherlands. It is a Silver Label 10-mile race from Amsterdam to Zaandam. The event was first held as a fun run event in 1985 and ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and managed to win the race in a time of 46:05 minutes.

Marathon running

He made his marathon debut at the 2007

Milan Marathon The Milano City Marathon is a marathon race held every April in Milan, Italy. It was first organised in 2000 by the Milano City Marathon Club and the first nine editions were held in November. History The 2009 edition of the race, initially set ...

and finished fourth by running 2:11:25. He finished third at his second marathon, the 2008

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes ...

and bettered his personal record to 2:07:33. He ran at the

in April 2010, but suffered cramps at the 30 km point and finished in second place. He entered the

Eindhoven Marathon The Eindhoven Marathon (Dutch: ''Marathon Eindhoven'') is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195km which is held in the city of Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern ...

in October and had a close battle with Nicholas Chelimo and Paul Biwott at the finish. Kamathi just pipped Chelimo at the line to win the race, recording a time of 2:07:38 – the same as the runner-up.van Hemert, Wim (2010-10-10)
In a thriller, Kamathi takes 2:07:38 victory in Eindhoven

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 ...

. Retrieved on 2010-10-12.

Personal life

He is from the

Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language. It may also refer to: *Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya *Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people *Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Centr ...

tribe. His manager is Federico Rosa and his coach is Gabriele Rosa.

International competitions

Personal bests

*3000 metres - 7:41.89 (2003) *5000 metres - 13:02.51 (2002) *10,000 metres - 26:51.49 (1999) *Half marathon - 1:00:22 (2002) *Marathon - 2:07:33 (2008)

References

External links

*
Rosa & Associati profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamathi, Charles 1978 births Living people People from Nyeri County Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male marathon runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Kenyan male cross country runners World Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Kenyan people 21st-century Kenyan people