Achievements
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Kenya | |||||
| 1979 | African Championships | Dakar, Senegal | 3rd | 200 m | 24.66 s |
Ruth Waithera Nganga (born August 17, 1958) is a retired sprinter from Kenya.
Waithera won bronze over 200 metres at the 1978 All-Africa games and 1979 African Championships. Waithera won twice three sprint events (100, 200 and 400 meters) at the East and Central African Championships; in 1977 and 1979. [1]
She competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in 400 metres race and reaching 200 metres semifinals. [2] She became the first African woman to reach 400 metres Olympic final. [3] At the time she was studying at the University of Arizona and she won NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Championship in 400 metres in 1984. At the 2004 Kenyan championships she won three individual gold medals; 100, 200 and 400 metres. [4]
Waithera still holds the Women's 400 metres Kenyan record, 51.56, set in 1984. In 2008 Elizabeth Muthuka broke the record, but tested positive for doping. Thus Waithera's record remains in force. [5] As of 2008, Waithera remains also the latest Kenyan woman to compete 400 metres at the Olympics. [6] Waithera is a former African record holder over 400 metres. [7]
Waithera is from Shamata village. She was a member of the Kenya Air Force. She established the Avenue Sports Club in 1998 to give orphan children an opportunity to have a career in athletics. [3] In 1990 she was awarded a membership of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. [8]
She is not to be confused with a Kenyan steeplechase runner, born in 1990, who is also named Ruth Waithera. [9]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Kenya | |||||
| 1979 | African Championships | Dakar, Senegal | 3rd | 200 m | 24.66 s |
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The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately 15⁄16 miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer cousin, the mile race, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile".
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Oludamola Bolanle ("Damola") Osayomi is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres and 200 metres. She is a four-time gold medallist at the African Championships in Athletics and won an Olympic silver medal with Nigeria in the 4×100 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She also won the 100 and 200 m sprints at the 2007 All-Africa Games.
Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres. Okagbare also holds the women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.
Asbel Kipruto Kiprop is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, who specialises in the 1500 metres. He was awarded the 1500 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics after the original winner, Rashid Ramzi, tested positive for doping. Kiprop has won three World Championship titles in the event, in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Kiprop failed his own doping test in November 2017 and received a four-year doping ban.
Amantle Montsho is a female sprinter from Botswana who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman to represent Botswana at the Olympics. She has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and is the former World Champion over the 400m, winning in a personal best time of 49.56 in Daegu.
Pamela Jelimo is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, specialising in the 800 metres. She won the gold medal in 800 metres at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing at the age of 18. She is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Kenyan to win the Golden League Jackpot. She holds both the 800 m world junior record and the senior African record over the same distance. Jelimo is also one of the youngest women to win an Olympic gold medal for Kenya.
Aleksandra Andreyevna Fedoriva is a Russian track and field athlete who competes mainly in sprinting events.
Elizabeth Muthuka is runner form Kenya who concentrates on 400 metres. Her surname is sometimes spelled Muthoka.
Tecla Chemabwai Sang is a Kenyan retired sprinter and middle-distance runner who represented Kenya in track and field athletics.
David Kitur is a retired Kenyan runner, who specialised in 400 metres.
Simon Kemboi is a retired sprinter from Kenya. He specialised in 400 metres. He is a World Championships and African Championships medalist, and competed at the Olympics.
Mark David Hylton is a former British 400 metres sprinter. Hylton won a silver medal in the relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
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The 100 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 100 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The 100 metres is considered one of the blue ribbon events of the Olympics and is among the highest profile competitions at the games. It is the most prestigious 100 metres race at an elite level and is the shortest sprinting competition at the Olympics – a position it has held at every edition except for a brief period between 1900 and 1904, when a men's 60 metres was contested.
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