Saïd Aouita is a former Moroccan track and field athlete. He is the only athlete in history to have won a medal in each of the 800 meters and 5000 meters at the Olympic games. He won the 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, as well as the 3000 meters at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is a former world record holder over 1500 metres (3:29.46), 2000 m (4:50.80), 3000 m (7:29.45), and twice at 5000 m. He lives in Orlando, Florida.
Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat is a Kenyan-American former middle and long-distance runner.
Meseret Defar Tola is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3,000 metres and 5,000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and World Championship gold medals over 5,000 metres. She broke the world record in the event in 2006, broke it again in 2007 and held it until 2008, when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time.
Naoko Takahashi is a retired Japanese long-distance runner and Olympic gold medal-winning marathoner. She won the gold medal in the marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and at the 2001 Berlin Marathon she became the first woman to complete a marathon in under 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Henry Rono was a Kenyan track and field athlete who specialised in various long-distance running events. Although he never competed at the Olympics, Rono is remembered as one of the most prolific collegiate competitors in the history of track in the United States, as well as being the former record holder for the 3000 metres steeplechase for over a decade. Rono also set the world record for the 5000 metres twice: once in 1978, then again in 1981.
Suleiman Nyambui is a former track athlete from Tanzania who specialized in various long-distance disciplines. Nyambui won the bronze medal at the 1978 All-Africa Games, the silver medal in 5000 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and finished first at three consecutive marathons between 1987 and 1988. He holds multiple indoor national records of Tanzania in athletics.
Gennaro Di Napoli is an Italian former middle distance runner.
Werner Schildhauer is a retired German track and field athlete, who represented the former East Germany at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow in the 10,000 meter run and placed 7th behind his teammate Jörg Peter.
Honorary Captain Sriram Singh Shekhawat is a former Indian middle-distance runner.
Harald Grønningen was a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed during the 1960s, earning five winter olympic and two world championship medals. He also won nine Norwegian championship titles and received the King's cup in 1963 and 1967. Grønningen won the 15 km twice at the Holmenkollen ski festival and earned the Holmenkollen medal in 1961.
Preeja Sreedharan is an Indian long-distance runner. She holds the national records in both the 10,000 metres and 5000 metres disciplines, which she set en route to the gold and silver medals at 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. Sreedharan was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting honour by the central government in 2011.
Edward Sequeira, popularly known as Eddie, is a retired rhythmic middle distance runner from India. Essentially a half miler doing the metric mile for stamina, Sequeira also excelled in the 5,000 metres. Born on 6 February 1940 in Bombay, Eddie studied at: St. Paul's High School from where he joined the Central Railway as mechanical apprentice. Sports were compulsory for the Railway employees and Sequeira proved a natural athlete. He took up athletics seriously in 1959 and by 1963 had created new marks for the 800 and 1,500 at the Central Railway meet and then went on to repeat the performances at the Inter-Railway Meet in Delhi, He clocked 1:52.6 for the half mile and 3:49.4 for the 1,500 metres. His next step was the National titles and he duly won both the events in the National Games, retaining his hold on the events from 1963 to 1973. He set a new record in the 1500 metres in 1966, his time of 3.43.7 being even faster than the existing Asian mark. This record remained in the books for well over 35 years before Bahadur Prasad updated it during the Permit Meet in Delhi.
Reid Coolsaet is a Canadian long-distance runner who competes in the marathon.
Rene Gamarcha Herrera is a Filipino track and field athlete. In total he has won 5 gold medals at South East Asian games. Currently, Herrera is one of the newly appointed coaches of the Philippines national athletics team.
Mohammed Ahmed is a Canadian long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian, he is his country's most successful athlete in long distance racing, being the first to medal in the 5000 metres at both the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Terrence Paul Brahm is an American former long-distance runner. He was the bronze medalist in the 3000 meters at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1987 and represented the United States in the 5000 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was the 1986 NCAA champion in that event for the Indiana Hoosiers.
Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo is a Kenyan born American track and field athlete. He is the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist in the 5000 meters and is known for his success at the highest level of athletics and controversial racing tactics.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a Norwegian middle- and long-distance runner, who is the current world record holder in the indoor 1500 metres and the 2000 metres, and holds the world best time over the two mile distance. Ingebrigtsen is a two-time Olympic champion, having won a gold medal in the 1500 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, setting an Olympic and European record, and a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He is also a two-time World champion, winning gold medals in the 5000 m in 2022 and 2023 and a six-time European champion, winning gold medals in the 1500 m and 5000 m in 2018, 2022, and 2024. In addition to the 1500 m, Ingebrigtsen holds European records in the mile, 3000 m, and 5000 m, and is one of only three men to run a sub-3:30 1500 m, sub-7:30 3000 m and a sub-12:50 5000 m.
Betty Jo Geiger is an American former long-distance runner who competed in events ranging from 3000-meter run to the marathon.
