Wilfred Bungei

Wilfred Bungei at the 2007 World Championships

Wilfred Bungei ( Wilfred Kipkemboi Bungei ; born July 24, 1980 in Kabirirsang , Nandi County ) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner whose specialty is the 800-meter run . He won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Life

He started running at the age of 17 and initially focused on the 400 meters . In 1998 he switched to double the distance and became junior runner-up that same year.

At the 2001 World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, he won the silver medal in 1: 44.55 min. In 2002 he set his best time of 1: 42.34 minutes and thus occupies fifth place in the all-time world best list (as of July 2008).

In 2003 he won bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham and won the IAAF World Athletics Finals .

At the 2004 Olympics , he came in fifth. The following year he finished fourth at the World Championships in Helsinki and again won the IAAF World Finals.

In 2006 he won the title at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow and came third at the world finals. At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, he was fifth.

Bungei is 1.78 m tall and weighs 64 kg. He is known to wear sunglasses a lot in his races. His cousin is former world record holder Wilson Kipketer .

Personal best

discipline	power	date	place
800 m	1: 42.34 min	September 8, 2002	Rieti
1000 m	2: 18.60 min	July 7, 2002	Rethymno

Performance development

year	800 meters (in minutes)
1998	1: 47.53
1999	1: 45.14
2000	1: 44.23
2001	1: 42.96
2002	1: 42.34
2003	1: 42.52
2004	1: 43.06
2005	1: 43.70
2006	1: 43.59
2007	1: 44.14
2008	1: 44.63

Web links

• Wilfred Bungei in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Wilfred Bungei at sporting-heroes.net