Shem-Tov Sabag (שם טוב סבג; nicknamed "Shemi"; born April 13, 1959) is an Israeli former Olympic marathoner. He won both the 1984 Lake County Marathon and the 1989

Vancouver Marathon The BMO Vancouver Marathon is an annual race held on the first Sunday of May each year in Vancouver, British Columbia. As the second largest international marathon in Canada, it has a certified running distance of 26 miles and 385 yards long. The ...

Early life

Sabag was born in Israel, his hometown is

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

and he later lived in

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

, and he is Jewish. He started running marathons at age 17, at the urging of a high school coach, but lost three years of training as he served with a tank unit in the Israel Defense Forces.

Education

He studied as a pre-med student at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. There, he was an All-American in cross-country. In November 1983, he came in 8th in the

NCAA Men's Division III Cross Country Championship The NCAA Men's Division III Cross Country Championship is an annual cross country meet to decide the team and individual national champions of men's NCAA Division III intercollegiate cross country running in the United States. It has been held ev ...

, and in May 1984 he came in 2nd in the 10,000 meters and 6th in the 5,000 meters.

Running career

His personal best time in the marathon was 2-18:23, which he ran in June 1984 in

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

, Minnesota. His personal best in the half-marathon was 1-06:13, which he ran in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania, in September 1986. In April 1984 he won his first marathon in his eighth race at that distance, in Chicago, Illinois, in the Lake County Marathon in 2-21:47. He competed for

Israel at the 1984 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. The nation returned to the Summer Games after participating in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. 32 competitors, 24 men and 8 women, took part in 46 ...

in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 25. Running in the Men's Marathon he came in 60th out of 107 competitors, with a time of 2-31:34. When he competed in the Olympics, Sabag was 5-6 (168 cm) tall and weighed 139 lbs (63 kg). Sabag won the

in May 1989 with a time of 2-19:41 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabag, Shem-Tov Living people People from Tiberias Israeli male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Israel Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics 1959 births Sportspeople from Haifa Israeli male marathon runners Augustana College (Illinois) alumni Israeli male cross country runners