Ezekiel Kemboi

About Ezekiel Kemboi

Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi is a Kenyan 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 sixth fastest of all time.This time is also the fastest non-winning time in history. He is one of only three men to have won both Olympic and World golds in the event, along with Reuben Kosgei and Brimin Kipruto. He is the only multiple gold medalist in both. He is the only athlete to win four (successive) world championships in the steeplechase.

Career Summary:

• 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 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.
  
• He won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea.
  
• 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 he 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.
  

Ezekiel Kemboi Achievements

Olympic Games

• Gold medal – first place2004 Athens3000 m st.
  
• Gold medal – first place2012 London3000 m st.
  

World Championships

• Gold medal – first place2009 Berlin3000 m st.
  
• Gold medal – first place2011 Daegu3000 m st.
  
• Gold medal – first place2013 Moscow3000 m st.
  
• Gold medal – first place2015 Beijing3000 m st.
  
• Silver medal – second place2003 Paris3000 m st.
  
• Silver medal – second place2005 Helsinki3000 m st.
  
• Silver medal – second place2007 Osaka3000 m st.
  

Commonwealth Games

• Gold medal – first place2006 Melbourne3000 m st.
  
• Silver medal – second place2002 Manchester3000 m st.
  
• Silver medal – second place2010 Delhi3000 m st.
  
• Bronze medal – third place2014 Glasgow3000 m st.