- Catherine Ndereba
Catherine Ndereba (born
July 21 ,1972 ) is a world classKenya n marathon runner. She won theBoston Marathon four times and silver medals in the Olympics in 2004 and 2008. Ndereba broke the women's marathon world record in 2001, running 2:18:47 at the Chicago Marathon. In 2008, Ndereba was described by aChicago Tribune sportswriter as the greatest women's marathoner of all time. [Chicago Tribune, October 8, 2008: [http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/2008/10/constantina-tom.html "Ranking the Top 10 women marathoners"] ]Ndereba is from
Gatunganga inNyeri District , and went to Ngorano Secondary School where she pursued her running career. In 1994, she was recruited into its athletics program by theKenya Prisons Service [The Standard, Ovtober 28, 2007: [http://eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143976625 Catherine Ndereba: Racing to conquer the world] ] . Ndereba was awarded the 2004 and 2005 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year awards [IAAF, March 2, 2006: [http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=131072/newsId=33649.html "Athletes dominate Kenyan Sports Awards"] ] .Ndereba, whose nickname is 'Catherine the Great', currently lives in
Nairobi ,Kenya , with her husband Anthony Maina and daughter Jane. Her brotherSamuel Ndereba and sisterAnastasia Ndereba are also marathon runners.Achievements
* 1995
** RepresentedKenya internationally for the first time at a women's relay race inSeoul ,Korea .
** Set a 10K personal record, 31:35, at the Richard S. Caliguiri/City of Pittsburgh Great Race.* 1996
**Entered 18 races, won 13.
**Ranked No. 2 in USA Track and Field's World Road Running Rankings; named Road Runner of the Year by "Runner's World Magazine" and Road Racer of the Year by Running Times.
**Finished third in the Richard S. Caliguiri/City of Pittsburgh Great Race.* 1997
** Did not run.
** Gave birth to daughter, Jane.* 1998
** Named Road Runner of the Year by "Runner's World" and Road Racer of the Year by "Running Times".
** Won individual bronze and team gold at World Half-Marathon Championships in Palermo, Italy.
** Ran world's fastest times at 5K (15:09), 15K (48:52), 12K (38:37) and 10 miles (53:07).
** Made marathon debut, finishing sixth at Boston in 2:28:27.
** Finally won the Richard S. Caliguiri/City of Pittsburgh Great Race with a time of 32:11, nipping American Libbie Hickman at the finish line.* 2000
**Boston Marathon winner
**Chicago Marathon winner* 2001
**Boston Marathon winner
**Chicago Marathon winner (World Record)* 2002
**Finished second atBoston Marathon . Also second atChicago Marathon .* 2003
** World Championships gold medalist
**Sapporo half-marathon winner.
** Second atNew York City Marathon andLondon Marathon .* 2004
** 2004 Summer Olympics,Athens - silver medalist in Marathon.
**Boston Marathon winner* 2005
**Boston Marathon winner (the first four-time woman's winner)
** World Championships silver medalist* 2006
**Osaka Marathon winner* 2007
** World Championships gold medalist* 2008
** 2008 Summer Olympics,Beijing - silver medalist in Marathon.External links
* [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1819129_1819134_1825760,00.html "Catherine Ndereba"] , n°38 on "Time"’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"
References
*
* Famous People from Kenya [http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/famous-people-from-kenya-catherine-ndereba.html]
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