Leonard Mucheru Maina
Leonard Mucheru Maina (born June 13, 1978 in the Nyandarua district , Central Province ) is a Kenyan long-distance runner , who was known as Mushir Salem Jawher ( Arabic مشير سالم جوهر Muschir Salim Dschawhir , DMG Mušīr Sālim Ǧawhir ) for Bahrain .
At the Cross Country World Championships 2000 Maina was fourth on the short distance. In the fall of 2003, like many other East African athletes, he accepted an offer to start for Bahrain and, on the occasion of the change of nationality, took on an Arabic name. At the Asian Games in 2006 , he won the silver medal in the 5000 meter run . He set his best time over this distance (12: 59.79 min) in 2005.
His first start in a marathon in January 2007 caused political entanglements. Jawher was the first athlete from an Arab country to run the Tiberias Marathon in Israel and won in 2:13:13 h. This start was frowned upon in Bahrain and a public apology was forced from the athlete. Contrary to what was announced by the officials of the Bahraini Association, his citizenship was not withdrawn, but in the following years he repeatedly encountered difficulties in obtaining visas . The athlete then asked the federation of his home country to reverse the change. Since October 2007 he starts again under the name Leonard Mucheru Maina for Kenya.
In 2004 he won the Trier New Year's Eve Run and in 2007 the Darmstadt City Run . In 2008 he repeated his victory in Tiberias and set a course record with 2:10:32 h. In the Milan Marathon of the same year he was third in 2:10:05 h, and in 2009 he was second in the Tiberias Marathon in 2:09:36 h.
Leonard Mucheru Maina lives in Limuru near Nairobi . In 2003 he started building a factory for pet food, which now has 63 employees.
Web links
- Leonard Mucheru Maina in the database of World Athletics (English)
- Athlete portrait on marathoninfo.free.fr
- Political obstacle course , article by Michael Reinsch in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 12, 2007
- Hearts sold , background article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 29, 2007
- To Bahrain and back , article by Jörg Wenig in Tagesspiegel , January 2, 2009
Footnotes
- ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Mushir Salem Jawher loses citizenship . January 7, 2007
- ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Mushir Salem Jawher is back in Bahraini . January 20, 2007
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maina, Leonard Mucheru |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | مشير سالم جوهر; Jawher; Mushir Salem |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Kenyan long-distance runner, temporarily starting for Bahrain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1978 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nyandarua District ( Central (Kenya) ) |