Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei (born 13 December 1983) is a Kenyan middle distance runner and former world champion.

Early career

Janeth, nicknamed "Eldoret Express" is from the Kenyan village of Kabirirsang, near

Kapsabet Kapsabet is a town in Kenya. It is the capital of Nandi County and is located 40 kilometres southwest of Eldoret on the way to Chavakali. The name Kapsabet comes from "Kap"- 'belong to/area of' and "sabit" or "sobet" – 'live' and has come ...

. Famous athletes

Wilson Kipketer Wilson Kosgei Kipketer (born 12 December 1972) is a Danish former middle distance runner. With a personal best of 1:41.11, Kipketer is tied with Emmanuel Wanyonyi as the second fastest of all time over the 800 meter distance, behind David ...

and

Wilfred Bungei Wilfred Kipkemboi Bungei (born 24 July 1980) is a Kenyan retired Middle-distance runner, who won the 800 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He also won at the World indoor Championships in Moscow 2006 the 800 metres title, def ...

are also from the same village. She started athletics while at Kapsumbeiywo Primary School and took several events. Since 1998 she attended Sing'ore Girls High School near

Iten Iten is a town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County in the Republic of Kenya and serves as the capital and is the largest town in the county. International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) awarded the town with a plaque recognising Iten as a Wo ...

, famous for producing Kenyan women athletes. She won national secondary school championship in

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

, while still at form one.IAAF: 28 August 2007
Focus on athletes
/ref> Her record from that event still stood in 2012. Her speciality at the time was actually

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, onc ...

. She attended the Kenyan trials for 1999 World Youth Championships, but as 400 m hurdles was not competed at the trials, she opted to take part in

800 m The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

. She finished second and was selected for the Kenyan team, but failed to reach the final of 800 m competition in World Youth Championships held in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, Poland.IAAF, 23 October 2007
Jepkosgei's Beijing target – first Kenyan women's middle distance Olympic gold
/ref> In 2000 Jepkosgei won two

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 b ...

s at national secondary school championships, the events were 400 m hurdles and 800 m. At the East Africa Youth Championships held in the same year she won 400 m hurdles, while at 800 m she finished second. She joined

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

-sponsored High Performance Training Centre in

Eldoret Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about at the Eldoret International Air ...

in 2001. She was then coached by 1988 olympic gold medalist

Paul Ereng Paul Ereng (born 22 August 1966) is a former Kenyan athlete, and the surprise winner of the 800 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Born in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia, Kenya, Paul Ereng attended Starehe Boys Centre and School in Nairobi, Kenya. He wa ...

. The same year, she took 800 m

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, ...

at the African Junior Championships, and the next year she took 800 m gold medal at the World Junior Championships in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. Janeth Jepkosgei took part at the

2003 All-Africa Games The 8th All Africa Games, also known as Abuja 2003, were held from 5–17 October 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria. 53 countries participated in 23 sports. The main venue was the newly constructed Abuja Stadium. The organizing committee was headed by N ...

, but failed to reach the 800 m final. In 2004, she won Kenyan Olympic trials at 800 m, but was not selected since she failed to beat qualifying time. The history repeated itself in 2005, when she won 800 m at national trials, but did not secure an "A"-qualifying time. She did beat the "B"-qualifying time, but

Athletics Kenya Athletics Kenya (AK) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (track and field) in Kenya. It is a member of World Athletics and Confederation of African Athletics. AK organises athletics competitions held in Kenya. It also sends Kenyan tea ...

did not send her or any other Kenyan 800 m female runner to represent Kenya at the world championships.

Reaching global top

Her breakthrough year was 2006. On 24 March 2006 she won the women's 800 m event at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

with a time of 1 minute, 57.88 seconds. She managed to beat veteran runner

Maria de Lurdes Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired Mozambican female track and field who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a th ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. Later that same year she won

African Championships in Athletics The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organis ...

at the 800 m event. She also broke the Kenyan 800 m women's record twice. Jepkosgei was awarded the 2006 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year award. Jepkosgei made Kenyan History on 28 August 2007, where she won gold in the World Championship 800 m final in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, becoming the first female Kenyan middle distance runner to achieve gold over 800 m. She led from start to finish to win in a time of 1 minute, 56.04 seconds, beating the Kenyan record and world leading time (1.56,18) she had set at the heats two days earlier. She retained the Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year award. On 24 May 2008 the 19-year-old

Pamela Jelimo Pamela Jelimo (born 5 December 1989) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, specialising in the 800 metres. She won the gold medal in 800 metres at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing at the age of 18. She is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold ...

set a new Kenyan record of 1:55.76, beating the one previously held by Jepkosgei. Jelimo's dominance throughout the season prevented Jepkosgei from major victories, but won Olympic silver medal over 800 m. She collided with

Caster Semenya Caster Semenya Order of Ikhamanga, OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic medal, Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, World Championships in the women's 800 metres ...

of South Africa such that Jepkosgei fell and finished last in her heat at the 2009 World Championships. However, after a successful protest, she was allowed to run in the semi-finals and eventually achieved silver medal, well behind the winner Semenya. Jepkosgei started her 2010 season by a win at the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meeting in Shanghai, China. Her father Michael Busienei was an 800 m runner, as is her younger brother Dennis Kiprotich. Jepkosgei is now coached by Claudio Berardelli. Her manager is Federico Rosa.

Achievements

Personal best

*800 metres – 1:56.04 (2007) *1000 metres – 2:37.98 (2002) *1500 metres – 4:02.32 (2011) *One Mile – 4:28.72 (2008)

References

*
Rosa & Associati profile

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jepkosgei, Janeth 1983 births Living people Kenyan female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Diamond League winners IAAF Continental Cup winners World Athletics Championships winners Athletes from Nandi County Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics