Moses Kiptanui (born 1 October 1970) is a Kenyan

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and long distance

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mostly famous for 3000 metres steeplechase in which he was the number one ranked athlete from 1991 to 1995 and three time IAAF World Champion. Kiptanui was the first man to ever run the 3000m steeplechase in under eight minutes. He is also known for his coaching role in his later years with Tarbert GAA.

Early life, family and education

Kiptanui is from Kenya. His younger brother, Philemon Tanui, attended

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and ran competitively for the school.

Career

Kiptanui emerged in 1991 as a relatively unknown athlete. He won several IAAF Grand Prix races that season. He celebrated an especially spectacular victory in

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where he fell on the track on the last lap but still won easily. He was known as a highly confident and somewhat cocky athlete, who was self-coached and driven by his own self belief. His victory at the

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therefore came as no surprise. To the great disappointment of many observers he was not included in the Kenyan team at the

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. Kiptanui had failed to qualify at the Kenyan trials in Nairobi. However, shortly after the Olympics he set a new world record over 3000m in

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with a time of 7:28.96 min. Only three days later he also broke the 3000m steeplechase world record in 8:02.08 in Zürich. The following year, he defended the World Championship title easily in Stuttgart. He won the steeplechase at the

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. In 1995, he broke the 5000m world record in

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in a time of 12:55.30 min (8 June). After collecting his third World Championship gold medal in

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he also set the new 3000m steeplechase record in Zürich in a time of 7:59.18 min (16 August), the first man in history to ever dip under eight minutes for the 3000m steeplechase. A year later, he achieved an Olympic silver medal at the

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. He was defeated by fellow Kenyan Joseph Keter. The next year, at the

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, Kiptanui failed to win his fourth consecutive gold medal, but took silver. The winner was Wilson Boit Kipketer, also from Kenya. He was still active in 2001 sighting the 2002 Commonwealth Games, but did not compete there. After retirement, he was a running coach. In 2008, he coached the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, Ezekiel Kemboi. He has also been the chairman of the Marakwet District branch of

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Legacy

A school was built by Shoe4Africa to honor the lifetime achievements of Kiptanui. The Shoe4Africa Moses Kiptanui School was opened in 2012 at Kamoi district, Marakwet and has eight primary classes with 320 students. Two ancillary early childhood development classes were added in 2015.

Major achievements

*1990 ** 1990 African Championships in Athletics –

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, Egypt ***1500m

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** 1990 IAAF World Junior Championships –

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, Bulgaria ***1500m gold medal *1991 **

–

, Japan ***3000m steeplechase gold medal ** 1991 All-Africa Games – Cairo, Egypt ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1993 **

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having or ...

–

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, Germany ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1994 **

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–

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, Russia ***5000m gold medal *1995 **

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–

, Sweden ***3000m steeplechase gold medal *1996 **

–

, United States ***3000 m steeplechase

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, ...

*1997 **

–

, Greece ***3000m steeplechase silver medal

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiptanui, Moses 1970 births Living people Athletes from Elgeyo-Marakwet County Kenyan male middle-distance runners Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male steeplechase runners Olympic male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes for Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 All-Africa Games World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games 20th-century Kenyan sportsmen