Suleiman Nyambui (born February 13, 1953) is a former track athlete from

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

who specialized in various long-distance disciplines. Nyambui won the bronze medal at the

1978 All-Africa Games The 3rd All-Africa Games – Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event played from July 13, 1978, to July 28, 1978, in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports. At the closing ceremonies the ...

, the silver medal in

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

, and finished first at three consecutive marathons between 1987 and 1988. He holds multiple indoor national records of Tanzania in athletics.

Running career

Early life

Nyambui had dropped out of school after primary education. He became a fisherman in Ukerewe District in

Mwanza Region Mwanza Region (''Mkoa wa Mwanza'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of North Macedonia. Njombe Region is ...

, where his potential as a good athlete was spotted by the Region's Athletic Organization. The organization helped in his training and afforded him facilities and guidance in making him a national and international athlete. He also had joined the Tanzania National Service before he went to train as a teacher. He taught school at

Bukumbi Bukumbi is a village on the south shore of Lake Victoria in Tanzania, situated in Mwanza Region. In 1883 the White Fathers, a group of missionaries led by Léon Livinhac, established a Catholic mission called ''Kamoga'' at Bukumbi. The location w ...

(20 miles from Mwanza City) before moving to the United States to study for his bachelor's and master's degrees at the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

(UTEP). Then he took a contract to train Bahraini athletes along with Canadian coaches Craig Taylor and Greg Peters from 1996-1998. After that he moved back to Tanzania.

Collegiate

He attended UTEP from 1978 to 1982, where, as an older athlete (he was 29 when he graduated), he won four straight NCAA titles in the 10,000 meters, one of only five Division I men to ever accomplish such a feat, and the only Division I man to win four straight indoor 1 mile championships. He also won three straight NCAA titles in the 5,000 meters while at UTEP and was the 1980 NCAA Cross Country champion. In a memorable Millrose Games race in New York in February 1981, Nyambui broke the world indoor 5,000 meter record with a 13:20.4, just ahead of Alberto Salazar who broke the American indoor 5,000 meter record.

Post-collegiate

Nyambui would go on to represent

in the men's 5000 metre race at the 1980 Summer Olympics, where he finished second behind only Miruts Yifter. After running shorter-distance races, Nyambui would go on to run several marathons, winning the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inclu ...

on two occasions and the

Stockholm Marathon The Stockholm Marathon, known as the adidas Stockholm Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon arranged in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1979. It serves as the Swedish marathon championship race. At the 2009 Stockholm Marathon more ...

in 1988.

References

External links

sports-reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyambui, Suleiman 1953 births People from Mara Region Living people Tanzanian male long-distance runners Tanzanian male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Tanzania Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Tanzania Olympic silver medalists for Tanzania University of Texas at El Paso alumni UTEP Miners men's track and field athletes College men's track and field athletes in the United States Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Berlin Marathon male winners Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games bronze medalists for Tanzania African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 All-Africa Games