Simon Maina Munyi (born 18 March 1978) is a Kenyan former long-distance runner who competed in track and

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

events. In his first year of international competition, he was the gold medallist in 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 ...

at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''( Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unpreceden ...

. Maina was also runner-up at the

1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held i ...

and represented Kenya at the

1999 All-Africa Games The 7th All-Africa Games were held from September 10, 1999, to September 19, 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstration sport. The South Africans hosted abo ...

and Chiba Ekiden. He has personal bests of 27:18.74 minutes over 10,000 m and 60:48 minutes for the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

. He was the 1998 Kenyan champion over 10,000 m. Based in Japan, he ran for the

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

corporate running team. He won twice on the track at the

Japan Championships in Athletics The is an annual outdoor track and field competition, organized by Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Currently it takes place in June or July. The competition is also for the qualifying trial for the Japanese national team of internatio ...

over 5000 metres. He switched to road running after 2004 and had podium finishes in the

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

and

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

half marathons. After suffering an injury in 2007 he was dropped by Toyota and was subsequently arrested and deported from Japan for violating his athlete's visa, raising concern in the sports media over foreign runners' treatment in Japan.

Career

Early life and career

Born Simon Maina Munyi in

Nyeri 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 ...

, Kenya, he was trained by Kenyan running coach David Miano as a teenager. Maina moved to Japan in 1997 to compete for the

corporate running team, based in Aichi Prefecture.Larner, Brett (17 October 2008)
Two Kenyan Pros Abandoned by Their Sponsor Teams Imprisoned in Nagoya and Facing Deportation
Japan Running News. Retrieved on 15 July 2014. That same year he won the 5000 metres at the Japanese Athletics Championships – a feat he repeated the following year with a championship record. He set two track bests at the start of the 1998 outdoor season, running 27:21.14 minutes for the

for second place at the Hyogo Relays, then recording 13:10.71 minutes for third at the

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 University ...

5000 m.Simon Maina
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 15 July 2014. The former time meant he was ranked in the top ten runners that year. He rose to the top of the national scene at the Kenyan Athletics Championships, winning the 10,000 m title with a sub-28-minute run.

Commonwealth champion

Maina made his international debut at the

and helped complete a Kenyan sweep of the 10,000 m medals, taking the silver medal half a second behind Julius Gitahi, with James Koskei coming in third. He was dominant at the 10,000 metres final at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in September, winning the gold medal almost a minute ahead of the runner-up, fellow Kenyan William Kalya. He opened 1999 with runner-up finishes at the

Osaka Grand Prix The Golden Grand Prix Osaka is an international athletics competition in Osaka, Japan, held in May at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai , known as the Yanmar Stadium Nagai ( ja, ヤンマースタジアム長居) for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium ...

and Hyogo Relays before improving his 10,000 m best to 27:18.74 minutes at the

FBK Games The FBK Games is an annual track and field event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion in Hengelo, Netherlands as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1981. Its name honours Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold med ...

in the Netherlands. The time ranked him eleventh in the world that year. He did not manage to defend his national title in Kenya, finishing seventh, although he did gain selection for the 10,000 m final at the

. There he placed fourth in a race won by world 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 ...

in what proved to be his final individual race representing Kenya. Returning to the Japanese circuit, he won at the Shizuoka Meet but was second to Julius Gitahi at the Japanese Championships.

Road running

Maina made his debut over the

distance in 2000, starting with a run of 62:46 minutes at the Tokyo Half Marathon in January, and then a career best of 60:48 minutes to win the Nagoya Half Marathon. He won the 10,000 m track race at the Hyogo Relays in a then world-leading time of 27:18.95 minutes (fifth best that year). He was out of the running in that event at the Kenyan Championships, thus missing a chance to compete at the

2000 Sydney 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 ...

. He placed fifth at the high calibre

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond Le ...

at the end of the track season. He dropped out of the top-30 rankings in 2001, and had a low key season with the exception of a win at the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, which he won in a course record of 45:29 minutes. He returned to form over 10,000 m in 2002, taking runner-up spots at the Hyogo Relays and Nacht Van de Atletik meet to rank 14th globally. He also gained team selection for the Chiba Ekiden, running a 5K leg and placing second with Kenya. Maina placed first in the 5000 m among the guest athletes at the 2003 Japanese Championships, with the format now changed so that only Japanese runners were ranked. He was runner-up to Julius Maina (an unrelated Kenyan based in Japan) over the 5000 m at the Yokohama Super Meet and was the winner of the Japanese Corporate title over that distance for Toyota. He placed sixth at the Kenyan 10,000 m trials for the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Men's results T ...

, so did not make the national team. He came twelfth at the Memorial Van Damme race, although such was the speed of the race his time of 27:22.29 minutes ranked him 14th best in the world that year. After 2003 he had little success in track races. Over the half marathon, he came third at the 2004 and 2005

Sapporo Half Marathon The was an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance which took place each July in Sapporo, Japan. First held in 1958, the race began as a full marathon competition for men under the moniker of the Hokkai Times Marathon. Th ...

, and was runner-up at the 2005 Nagoya Half Marathon. He won the Nagoya race for the second time in his career in 2006.

Injury and deportation

He suffered an injury and did not compete in 2007. He was fired that year from the Toyota corporate track team and subsequently a local car parts manufacturing business created its own track and field team to take on Maina and another injured runner, Joseph Kamau, offering them nominal posts in the factory. Maina planned a comeback to the sport at the end of 2008 but he and Kamau were arrested by the immigration police, who treated them as regular labourers working illegally under their athlete visas. The two were taken to trial in November 2008, with some commentators noting that the outcome could affect runners' conditions and set a precedent for Japanese corporate track teams, allowing them to fire injured foreign recruits and leave them open to deportation.Larner, Brett (3 November 2008)
Deportation Trial for Two Kenyan Elites to Begin Nov. 4
Japan Running News. Retrieved on 15 July 2014. At the trial, Maina and Kamau were found guilty and deported back to Kenya.Larner, Brett (13 May 2010)
Teaching the Masters
''Running Times''. Retrieved on 15 July 2014.

Personal bests

* 3000 metres – 7:52.3 min (1998) * 5000 metres – 13:10.71 min (1998) *

– 27:18.74 min (1999) *

10-mile run The 10-mile run is a long-distance running event over a distance of ten miles (16.1 kilometres). It can be held on a road course or on a running track. Also referred to as a 10-miler or 10 miles run, it is a relatively common distance in count ...

– 45:29 min (2001) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

– 60:48 min (2000)

International competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maina, Simon 1978 births Living people People from Nyeri County Sportspeople from Central Province (Kenya) Kenyan male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Japan Championships in Athletics winners Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 All-Africa Games African Games competitors for Kenya Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games