Richard Chelimo

Richard Chelimo medal table
10,000 m
Kenya
Olympic games
silver	1992 Barcelona	27: 47.72 min
World championships
silver	1991 Tokyo	27: 39.41 min
bronze	1993 Stuttgart	28: 06.12 min

Richard Chelimo (born February 27, 1972 in Chesubet , Marakwet district , † August 15, 2001 in Eldoret ) was a Kenyan long-distance runner . He set a world record over 10,000 meters .

In 1990 he was runner-up junior world champion in cross-country skiing and junior world champion over 10,000 m ahead of his brother Ismael Kirui . The following year he was fourth on the long distance at the World Cross Country Championships in 1991 and won over 10,000 m silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo .

In 1992 he was fifth at the World Cross Country Championships and won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona over 10,000 meters in 27: 47.72 minutes, almost exactly one second behind the winner Khalid Skah (Morocco).

The following year he set a world record over 10,000 meters at DN Galan in Stockholm as only the third African and fourth non-European. However, five days later his compatriot Yobes Ondieki undercut the best time of 27: 07.91 min by more than nine seconds. Shortly afterwards, Chelimo won bronze at the World Championships in Stuttgart over the same distance , his last major international success.

Chelimo came from the Kalenjin ethnic group . Many outstanding runners were part of his family. His cousin Moses Kiptanui was a three-time world champion in the obstacle course, and his brother Ismael Kirui was two-time world champion in the 5000 m.

In 2001 he died of complications from a brain tumor .

Web links

• Richard Chelimo in the database of World Athletics (English)
• In Memoriam Richard Chelimo , obituary by Ottavio Castellini on the IAAF website, August 17, 2001