Billy Konchellah

Billy Konchellah
Full name	William Konchellah
nation	Kenya
birthday	October 20, 1961
place of birth	Kilgoris
size	172 cm
Weight	62 kg
Career
discipline	Middle distance run
Best performance	1: 43.06 min ( 800 m )
status	resigned
Medal table
World championships 2 × 0 × 1 × Pan-African Games 1 × 0 × 0 ×
World championships gold Rome 1987 800 m gold Tokyo 1991 800 m bronze Stuttgart 1993 800 m  Africa Games gold Nairobi 1987 800 m

William "Billy" Konchellah (born October 20, 1961 in Kilgoris , Rift Valley ) is a former Kenyan middle-distance runner who was 1987 and 1991 world champion in the 800-meter run .

Life

In contrast to most top Kenyan athletes, Konchellah is not from the Nandi tribe , but a Maasai . He started his track and field career as a 400 meter runner . In 1979, when he was only 17 years old, he set a still valid Junior African record of 45.38 seconds. But his talent quickly became apparent on the 800 meters. At first he was in the shadow of his compatriot Mike Boit and the overpowering British trio Sebastian Coe , Steve Ovett and Steve Cram , who shared records and titles among themselves until the mid-1980s. For example, Konchellah was the pacemaker in Coe's world record run over 800 meters in Florence in 1981.

In 1984, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles , Konchellah stepped into the limelight for the first time over 800 meters. In the final won by Joaquim Cruz in Olympic record time, Konchella finished fourth in 1: 44.03 min. In 1985, a year without international championships, he continued his way to the top of the world, undercutting the 1:44 minutes for the first time and ending the season as seventh in the world rankings.

Konchellah has built a reputation for making impressive comebacks. His career was criss-crossed by many breaks due to serious illnesses. But even after suffering from tuberculosis and although he suffered from severe asthma , he managed to return to the top of the world again and again even after long breaks. 1986 was such a lost year, in which he was not listed in the world annual top list.

But in 1987 he made a brilliant return. At the World Championships in Rome , he beat the favorite Peter Elliott in the fastest time of the year of 1: 43.03 min and won the title over 800 meters. In the years that followed, asthma almost drove him into early retirement. It was not until 1990 that specialists in the USA realized that allergies were the cause. A move from native Kenya to Albuquerque (USA) and a change in diet brought the hoped-for improvement, and Konchellah began to train again.

In the Kenyan eliminations for the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo , he had to give way to the 1988 Olympic champion Paul Ereng . But in Tokyo Konchellah was in absolute top form. In the final he waited tactically for the mistakes of his opponents and turned them into his own advantage. While Ereng and the fellow-favorite Brazilian José Luiz Barbosa accelerated too early, Konchellah waited until 150 meters from the finish and sprinted safely to victory in 1: 43.99 min.

In 1992 Konchellah was not among the 200 best 800-meter runners of the year, and his medical history got a new chapter. But in 1993 he was back in shape to defend his title at the World Championships in Stuttgart . Only in third place, but with a convincing semi-final victory, he reached the 800 meter final. Here he was in the last place of the field up to the 600 meter mark, relying on his dreaded final sprint. In fact, he ran the last 200 meters faster than any other finalist, but the lead of his compatriot Paul Ruto and the Italian Giuseppe D'Urso was too big, and Konchellah was only third. At the finish he exercised harsh self-criticism and accused himself of being too confident.

In the following years Konchellah was always to be found in the world annual best lists, but achieved no more successes in international championships. In 1997 he announced ambitions for another world championship medal and even dared to beat Wilson Kipketer , but he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Kenyan world championship eliminations.

In 2003 Billy Konchellah was charged with rape in a British court and was convicted of sexual assault in 2004 , the sentence being settled by the 14 months of pre- trial detention . Just a few months later, in March 2005, a Finnish court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for an incident three years ago of rape, sexual abuse of minors and drug offenses.

Billy's brother Patrick Konchellah (best time 1: 42.98 min) and son Gregory (best time 1: 42.78 min), who meanwhile competes under the name Yusuf Saad Kamel for the Sheikdom Bahrain, are among the 25 fastest 800-meter Runners of all time (as of July 2008).

successes

• 1993: 3rd place world championships
• 1991: world champion
• 1987: world champion
• 1984: African champion

Top performances

• 400 m : 45.38 s, June 20, 1979, Nairobi
• 800 m: 1: 43.06 min, September 1, 1987, Rome

Web links

• Billy Konchellah in the database of World Athletics (English)