William Kiptarus Tanui (born 22 February 1964) is a Kenyan former

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, winner of 800 m at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Biography

Born in Terik Location of South Nandi District, William Tanui first came to notice relatively late in life, when he won the 1500 m at the Kenyan

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 ...

trials in 1989, but ran only sixth at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1990 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Partic ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. In the same year he won the 800 m at the African Championships in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. In the World Indoor Championships at

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

in 1991, Tanui crossed the line first, but was disqualified for breaking from his lane too early. He won 800 metres in the

1991 All-Africa Games The 5th All-Africa Games were held from September 20 to October 1, 1991, in Cairo, Egypt. Forty-three countries participated in eighteen sports. For the first time the Games were held on a four-year cycle as planned. Egypt had hoped to use the G ...

. Tanui's greatest moment came at the 1992 Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. In the 800 m final he stormed down the outside, actually finishing in lane 3, to narrowly beat a fellow countryman

Nixon Kiprotich Nixon Kiprotich (born December 4, 1962, in Baringo) is a former Kenyan 800 metres runner, who won the silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. Previously, Kiprotich had come eighth in the 1988 Olympic final. He finished 3rd at the 1989 IAAF Wo ...

for the gold medal. Tanui was unable to repeat this form in his only appearance at a

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, at

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in 1993, finishing seventh. He finished 2nd at the IAAF World Cup 800 metres race in 1992 and 1994.gbrathletics.com
IAAF WORLD CUP IN ATHLETICS
/ref> Tanui concentrated more on the 1500 m in the latter part of his career, and he finished fifth at that distance in the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. At the World Indoor Championships, Tanui finished third in the 1500 m at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1997, and fourth at

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

in 1999. Tanui currently volunteers for Terik community to uplift sports programs among the youth.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanui, William 1964 births Living people Doping cases in athletics Kenyan sportspeople in doping cases Kenyan male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Kenya World record holders in masters athletics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Kenya