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30-411: 5000 meters : 14:45.95 10,000 meters : 30:32.03 Marathon : 2:20:43 Tegla Chepkite Loroupe (born 9 May 1973) is a former Kenyan long-distance track and road runner. She is also a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights and education. Loroupe holds the world records for 25 and 30 kilometers and previously held the world marathon record. She was the first African woman to hold

60-465: A polygamous culture, her father had four wives. She spent her childhood working fields, tending cattle and looking after younger brothers and sisters. At the age of six, Loroupe started school at Kapsait Elementary school; she had to run ten kilometers to and from school every morning. At school, she became aware of her potential as an athlete when she won races held over a distance of 800 or 1500 meters against much older students. She decided to pursue

90-464: A career as a runner. However, she was not supported by anyone but her mother. The Kenyan athletics federation, Athletics Kenya , did not support her at first, thinking Loroupe too small and too thin. However, after she won a prestigious cross country barefoot race in 1988, this changed. She began to train to compete internationally the following year, earning her first pair of running shoes in 1989, which she wore only for particularly rough races. She

120-489: A standard 400 m track, or 25 laps on an indoor 200 m track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run ; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of

150-778: Is an International Sports Ambassador for the IAAF, the International Association of Athletics Federations , and for UNICEF . In 2003, Loroupe created an annual series of Peace Marathons sponsored by the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation "Peace Through Sports". Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ambassadors and government officials run with warriors and nomadic groups in her native Kenya, in Uganda and in Sudan, to bring peace to an area plagued by raiding warriors from battling tribes. In 2010

180-705: The 2005 World Championships marathon race in Helsinki, Finland , but finished only 40th. In February 2006 she won the Hong Kong Half-Marathon. The same year she finished 5th in the Rotterdam Marathon and 2nd in the Venice Marathon . In 2007, she participated again the New York City Marathon, finishing 8th. Loroupe's biggest successes include world records over 20, 25 and 30 kilometers as well as

210-673: The Paris Half Marathon in 1994 and 1998, City-Pier-City Loop half marathon in the Hague in 1998, and the Parelloop 10K in race in the Netherlands in 1999. During the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, favoured to win both the marathon and the 10,000 meters, she suffered from violent food poisoning the night before the race. Nevertheless, she fought through the marathon race, finishing 13th, then,

240-633: The World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's. The event is almost the same length as the dolichos race held at the Ancient Olympic Games , introduced in 720 BCE. World Athletics keeps official records for both outdoor and indoor 5000-metre track events. The 5000 metres is the (slightly longer) approximate metric equivalent of the 3-mile (4,828.0 m) run, an event common in countries which used

270-515: The imperial measurement system . The 3-mile event featured in the Commonwealth Games through 1966, and was a championship in the United States in non-Olympic years from 1953 to 1973. It required 12 laps around a 1 ⁄ 4 -mile (402 m; 440 yd; 1,320 ft) track. Two men have won the Olympic 5000 metres on two occasions, both times back-to-back. Lasse Virén of Finland

300-464: The world record over the half marathon distance. This led to the participation of a number of prominent athletes, with marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie winning the 2008 edition, while Charles Kamathi and Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot followed behind. Another strong field was assembled in 2010 and Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea broke both the 20 kilometres and half marathon world records in his winning run. The competition also hosts

330-636: The 1999 Osaka International Ladies Marathon . Loroupe won the Zevenheuvelenloop 15K race in the Netherland three times (1992, 1993 and 1998). She is a seven-time Egmond Half Marathon winner (1993–1998, 2000). She has won the Lisbon Half Marathon a record six times: 1994–1997, 1999 and 2000. She has won the Tilburg road race , a five times (1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999), also a record number. She won

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360-529: The Kenyan Government lauded her achievements as hundreds of warriors had laid down their weapons. She has established a school ( Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy ) and orphanage for children from the region in Kapenguria , a high-mountain town in north-west Kenya . The 2006 Peace Marathon was held on 18 November 2006, in Kapenguria , Kenya. Two thousand warriors from six tribes competed. The next Peace Marathon

390-609: The New York Marathon alongside founder Toby Tanser and actress Sarah Jones finishing in 3:54:02. Loroupe is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport , a Monaco -based international organisation. As reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings , the IOC recognised six women, five from each continent and one to represent

420-489: The World Championships, Great Britain's Mo Farah stands alone, the most successful and most decorated athlete in the event with three gold medals (2011, 2013 and 2015) and four medals in total (including silver in 2017) between 2011 and 2017. Kenya's Ismael Kirui was the first athlete to win the title twice in 1993 and 1995, and Ethiopia's Muktar Edris the third between 2017 and 2019. Romania's Gabriela Szabo won

450-522: The distance, a gold and two silvers between 1920 and 1928. Only one woman has won the Olympic 5000 metres title twice, Ethiopian Meseret Defar winning in Athens in 2004 , taking silver behind compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008, before regaining the title in London in 2012 . Defar and Dibaba are the only athletes with three Olympic medals at the distance, with both reaching the podium in 2004, 2008 and 2012. In

480-543: The half marathon begins in a small town on the north bank of the Tagus, no longer crossing the bridge, and the course is wide and flat from there on. Heading eastwards towards the city centre, the course passes the docks and traces a route alongside much of the city's historical architecture, including the Belém Tower and Jerónimos Monastery . From 2008 onwards, the organisers set aside a €50,000 prize pot for any athlete breaking

510-649: The marathon World Record, which she held from 19 April 1998 until 30 September 2001. She is the three-time World Half-Marathon champion . Loroupe was also the first woman from Africa to win the New York City Marathon , which she has won twice. She has won marathons in London, Rotterdam , Hong Kong, Berlin and Rome. In 2016, she was the person organizing the Refugee Team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Tegla Loroupe

540-476: The next day, ran the 10,000 metres, finishing 5th, running barefoot in both races, a feat she later stated she achieved out of a sense of duty to all the people taking her as a bearer of hope in her home country. Until the end of 2001, she continued to suffer from various health problems. In 2000, she won London Marathon and Rome City Marathon . She also won Lausanne Marathon in 2002, Cologne Marathon in 2003 and Leipzig Marathon in 2004. Loroupe competed at

570-497: The organisers changed the elite course to allow for records. The new course begins at sea level on the north side of the river Tagus , a change which made the course entirely flat. The course for the mass participation race, which has attracted almost 30,000 runners in previous years, remained unchanged and begins by crossing the Ponte 25 de Abril suspension bridge before linking up with the new elite course. The current elite course of

600-696: The past record over the marathon distance. She used to hold the One Hour running World record of 18,340 m set in Borgholzhausen , Germany, but the record was broken by Dire Tune of Ethiopia ten years later, in 2008 (new record 18,517 m). In 2006, she was named a United Nations Ambassador of Sport by Secretary General Kofi Annan , together with Roger Federer , tennis champion from Switzerland, Elias Figueroa , Latin American soccer legend from Chile, and Katrina Webb paralympics gold medalist from Australia. She

630-425: The race has consistently delivered fast winning times. However, many of these times have been unratifiable for record purposes due to factors including: the course being too short (1991–93), excessive tailwinds, as well as there being an excessive drop in altitude, which boosted athletes' performances (1996, 1998, 2000–01, 2004, and 2006). The course was judged as non-permissible for records until 2008, in which year

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660-424: The title twice between 1995 and 1997. Since then four African runners - two Kenyan, two Ethiopian - have repeated the feat; Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and Vivian Cheruiyot and Hellen Obiri of Kenya. Meseret Defar's five medals - 2 gold, a silver and two bronze won between 2005 and 2013 - are the most won in the event by any athlete. Lisbon Half Marathon First held in 1991,

690-601: The world's strongest competition, she won. As a consequence she was idolised by many young people in Africa: at last, a woman champion to complement the many successful male runners. She won the New York City Marathon again in 1995 and finished 3rd in 1998. Between 1997 and 1999, she won three world titles a row over the half marathon distance. She won Rotterdam Marathon three times between 1997 and 1999. She won Berlin Marathon in 1999 and finished second in 2001. She finished second at

720-625: The world, for their achievements and their work to promote women's sport. Loroupe was awarded the world trophy. In 2015 Loroupe became an Ambassador for the Homeless World Cup . In 2016, she was the Chef de Mission organizing the Refugee Team for the 2016 Summer Olympics . At those games Loroupe was inducted into the Olympians for life project for her work in promoting peace. In October 2016 Loroupe

750-535: Was 15 November 2008 in Kapenguria, Kenya. National ambassadors to Kenya participated, together with the Prime Minister, and several Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan Ministers. The Peace Marathon has been held each year since then, with the exception of the past two Covid years. Winners of the races often begin professional training in long-distance running, or join the training team of ex-warriors. In February 2007, she

780-501: Was awarded United Nations Person of the Year. 5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field , approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics , run over 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 laps of

810-664: Was born in Kapsait village in the Lelan division of West Pokot District . It is situated in the Great Rift Valley , approximately 600 kilometres north of Nairobi . Her father and mother are from the Pokot tribe, a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting parts of northern Kenya , eastern Uganda and southern Ethiopia . Loroupe was told by her father that she was useless and her career might be babysitting. She grew up with 24 siblings. The Pokots being

840-573: Was named the Oxfam Ambassador of Sport and Peace to Darfur. In December 2006, she travelled with George Clooney , Joey Cheek , and Don Cheadle to Beijing, Cairo, and New York on a diplomatic mission to bring an end to violence in Darfur. She won the "Community Hero" category at the 2007 Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year awards. In November 2009, Tegla represented the Shoe4Africa team . running

870-660: Was nominated for the junior race of the 1989 IAAF World Cross Country Championships finishing 28th. She competed again at the 1990 IAAF World Cross Country Championships , finishing 16th in the junior race. In 1994 and 1998, Loroupe won the Goodwill Games over 10,000 metres, barefoot . Over the same distance she won bronze medals at the World Athletics Championships in 1995 and 1999 . In 1994, Loroupe ran her first major marathon in New York. Running against

900-566: Was the first to achieve the feat, winning the title in 1972 in Munich , before retaining the title in 1976 in Montreal . Mo Farah of Great Britain matched the achievement, winning the title in 2012 in London , and retaining it four years later in Rio de Janeiro . Both men achieved 5000/10,000 m doubles on each occasion. Finnish legend Paavo Nurmi is the only male runner to have won three Olympic medals at

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