Paul Bitok

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Paul Bitok medal table

Long distance runner

KenyaKenya Kenya
Olympic Summer Games
silver 1996 Atlanta 5000 m
silver 1992 Barcelona 5000 m
Indoor world championships
silver 1999 Maebashi 3000 m
silver 1997 Paris 3000 m
African Championships
gold 2002 Tunis 5000 m

Paul Bitok (born June 26, 1970 in Kilibwoni , Nandi County ) is a retired Kenyan long-distance runner .

He gained international notoriety when he wore at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona the silver medal in the 5000 meter race won. In the final, while in the lead on the home stretch, he was sprinted over by the German Dieter Baumann . In the end Bitok, who ran a time of 13: 12.71 minutes, was 19 hundredths of a second short of victory.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , he once again achieved second place. With a time of 13: 08.16 min, this time he was 20 hundredths of a second behind the winner Vénuste Niyongabo from Burundi .

He won two other silver medals in the 3000 meter run at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 1997 in Paris and in 1999 in Maebashi . Both times he was beaten by the Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie . Bitok was finally able to win an international gold medal at the African Championships in Tunis in 2002. In a time of 13: 31.95 min, he was ahead of his compatriot Benjamin Limo and the Moroccan Mohamed Amine in the 5000 meter run .

Paul Bitok had a competition weight of 58 kg with a height of 1.73 m. He is married to long-distance runner Pauline Konga .

Top performances

  • 1500 m : 3: 31.96 min, July 17th 2001, Stockholm
  • 3000 m: 7: 28.41 min, August 10, 1996, Monaco
  • 5000 m: 12: 58.94 min, June 28, 2002, Oslo

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