Ezekiel Kemboi

Life and work

Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi (born 25 May 1982) is a Kenyan professional athlete, winner of the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships, the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2013 World Championships and the 2015 World Championships. His 3000 m steeplechase best of 7:55.76 set at Monaco in 2011 places him as the seventh fastest of all time. This time is also the fastest non-winning time in history. He is one of only five men to have won both Olympic and World golds in the event, along with Reuben Kosgei, Brimin Kipruto, Conseslus Kipruto and Soufiane El Bakkali. He and El Bakkali are the only multiple gold medalists in both. He is the only athlete to have won four world championships in the steeplechase (which he won consecutively). He is one of only three athletes to have won two Olympic titles in the event; the other two being Volmari Iso-Hollo and Soufiane El Bakkali.

Born in Matira, Kemboi graduated from Kapsowar Boys Secondary School in 1999. He did not take up athletics until after he left school, but was spotted by Paul Ereng and won the African Junior Championships in 2001 despite falling.

Kemboi became African Junior Champion in 2001 and then in 2002, he finished second at the Commonwealth Games behind compatriot Stephen Cherono. The same year Kemboi was originally fourth at the African Championships in Athletics, but was later awarded bronze after the winner Moroccan Brahim Boulami received a doping suspension.

At the 2003 World Championships, Kemboi had a gruelling battle with former teammate Saif Saeed Shaheen (formerly Stephen Cherono) who represented his new country Qatar, before Shaheen pulled away from the exhausted Kemboi to win by less than a second. Kemboi won the gold medal at the 2003 All-Africa Games.

In the absence of Shaheen – the Kenyan Olympic Committee refused to waive the three-year eligibility delay for established athletes who switch nationalities – Kemboi rose to a main favourite status at the Athens Olympics. The race went very much according to form, with the three Kenyans Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech pushing the pace from the second lap and soon leaving the rest of the field behind and Kemboi winning a gold medal 0.3 seconds ahead of Kipruto in a Kenyan sweep.

In August 2005 he won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics again behind Shaheen, and in March 2006 he won the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He finished second at the 2006 African Championships in Athletics, but was disqualified for improper hurdling. At the 2007 World Championships in Athletics he won his third successive silver medal, this time losing to Kipruto.

Kemboi represented Kenya at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but managed only seventh – his worst performance on the global stage. He rebounded with a win at the 2009 World Championships (his first world championship gold medal) after three successive silvers and took silver at the 2010 African Championships the following year behind 2008 bronze medalist Richard Mateelong.

He took to the road races of Italy in August 2010, beating Peter Kimeli to the tape to win the Corribianco race in Bianco, then taking the honours at the 8.5-kilometre Amatrice-Configno.

Kemboi won the gold medal for Kenya in the 3000m Steeplechase in London 2012. Kemboi won in a time of eight minutes 18.56 seconds.

In 2013, Kemboi added his third straight gold medal at the World Championships. In 2015, he took his fourth successive title at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. This was his seventh World medal, setting a record for any athlete, which would subsequently be surpassed by Chinese shot putter Gong Lijao in 2023.

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