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39-418: The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record , but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in another race. In the 2009 event Patrick Makau won by running what was, at the time, the second fastest half marathon ever. Further sub-60-minute performances came in the men's race in 2010, but it was women's winner Elvan Abeylegesse who was the most impressive runner at

78-730: A 17-year-old in April 2004 in Hiroshima , Japan. At age 18, Wanjiru broke the half marathon world record on 11 September 2005 in the Rotterdam Half Marathon with a time of 59:16 minutes, officially beating Paul Tergat 's half-marathon record of 59:17 minutes. This was preceded two weeks earlier by a bettering of the 10,000 m world junior record by a margin of almost 23 seconds in the IAAF Golden League Van Damme Memorial Race on 26 August. His WJR time of 26:41.75

117-399: A 65:13 clocking, while Joyciline Jepkosgei ensured a Kenyan clean sweep, crossing the finish line in 66:08, a personal best by almost three minutes. In the men’s contest, IAAF World Half Marathon Championship silver medallist Bedan Karoki surged to victory over the last three kilometres, in a time of 59:10. Two course records and a very near miss were the highlights of the 2018 edition of

156-571: A beautician, had a daughter Anne Wanjiru and a son Simon Njoroge. Wanjiru also had a third wife, Judy Wambui Wairimu, who was pregnant when he died and has since had a son. Wanjiru's cousin Joseph Riri was a world-class marathon runner, and Wanjiru's younger brother Simon Njoroge was also a long-distance runner. On 15 May 2011, Wanjiru died from a fall off a balcony at his home in Nyahururu. Wanjiru appeared to have suffered internal injuries after

195-461: A blunt object after he had jumped from the balcony of his home, landing on his legs, or possibly he was pushed then struck. Most information taken from IAAF profile. Key : † = World junior record, ‡ = Unofficial 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

234-504: A course record of 2:06:39. He started 2008 by winning the Zayed International Half Marathon and receiving a prize of US$ 300,000. In the 2008 London Marathon , he came in second, breaking 2:06 for the first time. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wanjiru won the marathon gold medal in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32, smashing the previous record of 2:09:21 set by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in the 1984 Olympics. He received

273-473: A major part of his life. Despite that, his marathoning career continued successfully, though his personal life became somewhat chaotic. In December 2010, Wanjiru was arrested by Kenyan police at his house in Nyahururu and charged with threatening to kill his wife and illegally possessing an AK-47 rifle. He denied both the accusations and claimed that he was being framed. Wanjiru and his wife Triza Njeri,

312-557: A new course record. He was pleased with the achievement and stated that he hoped to break Haile Gebrselassie's world record in the near future. At the Rotterdam Half Marathon, Wanjiru clocked a 1:01:08 on 13 September, which was won by Sammy Kitwara with a time of 58:58. In October 2009, Wanjiru won the Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:05:41, setting a new course record for the city and the fastest marathon time ever run in

351-452: A record eight men finished under 60 minutes with Lelisa Desisa winning the race. The 9th edition of the race in 2015 saw New York Marathon Champion Mary Keitany lead a high quality field, posting yet another astonishing time of 66:02 on the way to her third RAK title. Birhanu Legese and Cynthia Limo proved they are the best half marathon runners in the world on current form with two very different but equally enthralling victories at

390-524: A significant military or naval victory or accomplishment. In the United States, Congress would enact a resolution asking the President to reward those responsible. The commanding officer would receive a gold medal and his officers would get silver medals . Medals have historically been given as prizes in various types of competitive activities, especially athletics. Traditionally, medals are made of

429-465: A slight modification) remained on the obverse with a custom design by the host city on the reverse. Noting that Cassioli's design showed a Roman amphitheater for what originally were Greek games, a new obverse design was commissioned for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens . For the 2008 Beijing Olympics medals had a diameter of 70mm and were 6mm thick, with the front displaying a winged figure of victory and

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468-540: A sporting discipline receive a gold medal in recognition of their achievement. At the Ancient Olympic Games , only one winner per event received an award, which was a kotinos , an olive wreath made of wild olive leaves from a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Aristophanes in Plutus makes a remark why victorious athletes are crowned with wreaths made of wild olive instead of gold. Herodotus describes

507-537: A story that explains why there were only a few Greek men at the Battle of Thermopylae since "all other men were participating in the Olympic Games" and that the prize for the winner was "an olive-wreath". When Tigranes , an Armenian general, learned this, he uttered to his leader: "Good heavens! What kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for honour". At

546-417: A time of 1:04:55. The 2020 edition meant another women's world record, this time for Ababel Yeshaneh , who finished the race in 1:04:31, 20 seconds faster than Joyciline Jepkosgei's record from 2017. The men's race was won by Kibiwott Kandie . Key:     Course record Samuel Wanjiru Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (10 November 1986 – 15 May 2011) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who won

585-479: A time of 2:06:24. "It was the greatest surprise I have ever seen in my life", remarked his coach, Federico Rosa, on the performance. Wanjiru married Mary Wacera , a fellow long-distance runner, in 2009 and the two had a child (Ann) in 2010. He had previously married Triza Njeri in a traditional ceremony and had two children, although Wanjiru and Wacera's marriage was legally binding. Wanjiru began drinking alcohol when he moved to Japan, and it increased and became

624-459: The 1896 Summer Olympics , winners received a silver medal and the second-place finisher received a bronze medal . In 1900 , most winners received cups or trophies instead of medals. The next three Olympics ( 1904 , 1908 , 1912 ) awarded the winners solid gold medals, but the medals themselves were smaller. The use of gold rapidly declined with the onset of the First World War and also with

663-512: The 2008 Beijing Olympics Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He became the youngest gold medallist in the marathon since 1932. He set the current (as of 2020) 10,000m World Junior Record in 2005 and set the half marathon world record 3 times. In 2009, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon , running

702-742: The AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award that year in recognition of his performances. At the Granollers Half Marathon in February 2008, in which Wanjiru won, the Kenyan stated his intent for the future, saying, "in five years' time I feel capable of clocking a sub 2 hours time for the marathon." In April 2009, Wanjiru won the London Marathon in a time of 2:05:10, a new personal record and also

741-729: The Olympic Games , the Lorentz Medal , the United States Congressional Gold Medal and the Nobel Prize medal. Nobel Prize medals consist of 18  karat green gold plated with 24 karat gold. Before 1980, they were struck in 23 karat gold. Before the establishment of standard military awards , e.g., the Medal of Honor , it was common practice to have a medal specially created to provide national recognition for

780-631: The Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon and improved it to 58:33 on 17 March 2007 in the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague , Netherlands . While improving his own record, he recorded an unofficial time of 55:31 for 20 km, which was faster than Haile Gebrselassie's world record but was never ratified due to the timing methods in the race. Wanjiru made his marathon debut at Fukuoka Marathon on 2 December 2007, winning it impressively with

819-483: The 10th anniversary edition of the RAK Half Marathon 2016. Limo's scorching winning time of 66.04 was a massive personal best and puts her 3rd on the official all time list behind only Florence Kiplagat and Mary Keitany . The first ladies 6 all broke 67 minutes with 5 recording personal bests, underlining RAK's status as the world's fastest half marathon. The race's reputation as the world's fastest Half Marathon

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858-507: The 19th century, with the National Association of Amateur Athletes in the United States awarding such medals as early as 1884. This standard was adopted for Olympic competition at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis . At the 1896 event , silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners-up, while in 1900 other prizes were given, not medals. At the modern Olympic Games , winners of

897-573: The 2010 Chicago Marathon in October, but a stomach virus before the race had harmed his preparations and he entered the competition with the lesser aim of reaching the top three. Tsegaye Kebede took the opportunity to forge a lead, but Wanjiru (despite a lack of peak physical form) persevered with the pace and caught up with the Ethiopian. He took the lead in the final 400 m to defend his title in Chicago with

936-691: The Japanese cross country circuit, where he won the Fukuoka International Cross Country at sixteen years old in 2003. He went on to win in both Fukuoka and at the Chiba International Cross Country consecutively in 2004 and 2005. After graduating in 2005, he joined the Toyota Kyūshū athletics team, coached by 1992 Olympic marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita . Wanjiru had a 5000 m best of 13:12.40, run as

975-454: The Milimani law court that she believes her son was murdered. His mother claimed at an inquest into his death that her son was murdered by six men who had conspired with his wife Trizah Njeri. During the inquest at the Milimani court that sought to establish whether Wanjiru was murdered or jumped to his death, a former chief government pathologist said he was convinced that Wanjiru was hit by

1014-404: The Olympic host. From 1928 through 1968 the design was always the same: the obverse showed a generic design by Florentine artist Giuseppe Cassioli of Greek goddess Nike with Rome's Colosseum in the background and text naming the host city; the reverse showed another generic design of Nike saluting an Olympic champion. From the 1972 Summer Olympics through 2000 , Cassioli's design (or

1053-537: The United States. The wins in London and Chicago helped him reach the top of the World Marathon Majors rankings for 2009, earning him a jackpot of US$ 500,000. He signed up to defend his title at the 2010 London Marathon , but he encountered knee trouble at the midway point of the race and decided to drop out to avoid further injury – the first time in six marathons that he had failed to finish. He chose to run at

1092-640: The back showed a Beijing Olympics symbol surrounded by an inset jade circle. Winter Olympics medals have been of more varied design. The silver and bronze medals have always borne the same designs. The award of a gold medal, often coupled with the award of silver and bronze medals to the next place finishers, has been adopted in other sports competitions (such as the Mediterranean Games ), and in other competitive fields, such as music and writing, as well as some competitive games. Typically bronze medals are awarded only to third place, but in some contests there

1131-510: The capital, Nairobi . and was brought up with his brother Simon Njoroge in poverty by his mother Hannah Wanjiru, daughter of Samuel Kamau. Wanjiru took his mother's given name as a surname, because she was a single mother. He dropped out of school aged about 12, because they could not afford the school fees. Wanjiru started running at the age of 8. In 2002, he moved to Japan and went to Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Sendai . He had success on

1170-532: The eighteenth century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts, for example, by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts , usually as a symbol of an award to give an outstanding student some financial freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Many organizations now award gold medals either annually or extraordinarily, including various academic societies. While some gold medals are solid gold, others are gold-plated or silver-gilt , like those of

1209-580: The fall and was confirmed dead by doctors at a nearby hospital after attempts to revive him failed. Police said Wanjiru's wife, Triza Njeri, had come home to find him in bed with another woman. She locked the couple in the bedroom and ran outside. Wanjiru then died after falling from the balcony. Police were unsure if Wanjiru intended suicide or jumped out of rage, and investigated the circumstances related to Njeri and his female companion that led to his death. In May 2017, while testifying during an inquest into Wanjiru's death, his mother Hannah Wanjiru said at

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-512: The fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury. In 2011, he died after a fall from a balcony at his home in Nyahururu following a domestic dispute. Samuel Wanjiru was born in Nyahururu , Laikipia County , a town in the Rift Valley , about 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of

1287-630: The following metals: Occasionally, Platinum medals can be awarded. These metals designate the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology : the Golden Age , when men lived among the gods, the Silver Age , where youth lasted a hundred years, and the Bronze Age , the era of heroes. The custom of awarding the sequence of gold, silver , and bronze medals for the first three highest achievers dates from at least

1326-432: The fourth edition: her time of 1:07:07 was not only the fastest ever for a debut half marathon run, but it also placed her as the sixth fastest ever woman over the distance. The race saw its first women's world record performance in 2011, as Mary Keitany became the first female under the 66-minute mark with her winning time of 1:05:50. The 2013 saw a race first with three men under 59 minutes, while winner Geoffrey Kipsang

1365-511: The onset of the Second World War . The last series of Olympic medals to be made of solid gold were awarded at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm , Sweden . Olympic gold medals are required to be made from at least 92.5% silver , and must contain a minimum of 6 grams of gold. All Olympic medals must be at least 70mm in diameter and 3mm thick. Minting the medals is the responsibility of

1404-524: The race: Bedan Karoki won his second title in a time of 58:42, breaking Patrick Makau's course record that stood since 2009. In second place, Ethiopia's Jemal Yimer ran the fastest half marathon debut in history in 59:00. But it was once again the women's race that stole the show as Fancy Chemutai won the race in another course record time of 1:04:52, missing the World Record by one second. Behind her, Mary Keitany once again broke her own personal best in

1443-402: Was cemented further in 2017 as the world record for the women’s half marathon was broken at the 11th edition by Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, the previous year’s IAAF World Champion for the distance, who finished in 65:06, taking 3 seconds off the time of compatriot Florence Kiplagat. Behind her, three-time RAK champion Mary Keitany smashed her own best, and very nearly the old world record, with

1482-457: Was good enough for third place in the race behind Kenenisa Bekele 's world record, set in the same race, of 26:17.53 and Boniface Kiprop 's 26:39.77. It was Kiprop who held the previous world junior mark (27:04.00 minutes), set at the same meeting the previous year. The run saw 6 runners going under 27 minutes Wanjiru took back the half-marathon world record, which Haile Gebrselassie broke in early 2006, with 58:53 minutes on 9 February 2007 at

1521-416: Was two seconds off the course record. The women's race re-wrote the all-time rankings as Lucy Kabuu ran the second fastest time ever to win in 66:09 minutes and Priscah Jeptoo and Rita Jeptoo (second and third) both entered the top five all-time fastest. Demonstrating significant depth, records for the fastest women's times by finishing position were broken from second place up to eleventh place. In 2014

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