Susan Sirma
Susan Sirma ( born May 26, 1966) is a former Kenyan middle and long distance runner.
Sporting career
Initial successes achieved Sirma by winning the silver medal in the 1500 m at the East and Central Africa championships in 1983 and winning the 5000 - meter race at the Kenyan Championships 1986. Late 1980s, she established herself as one of the best runners in Africa, as they in Nairobi won the gold medal in the 3000 -meter run and the silver medal in the 1500 meter race at the Pan-African games in 1987. On both routes they took part in the Olympic Games in Seoul, retired from there but already in the preliminary heats.
The final international breakthrough came at the World Athletics Championships 1991 in Tokyo. There she won behind Tetjana Samolenko - Dorowskych and Yelena Romanova from the Soviet Union, the bronze medal in the 3000 -meter run and celebrated the major success of their career. Sirmas time of 8:39,41 min also meant a new African record. In the 1500 -meter run she reached the seventh place in Tokyo. A few weeks later she was at the Pan-African Games in Cairo defend her title over 3000m and won this time also over 1500 m. With time of 8:49,33 4:10,68 min and min set them on two routes championship records.
In 1992 she took at the World Cross Country Championships in Boston ninth and led Kenya to victory in the team competition. Most recently, she appeared in the same year at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1500 -meter run, but failed there in the first round.
Importance for the Kenyan Running
While Kenyan runners won since 1968 at major international events such as the Olympics and World Championships Medals regularly in the medium and long- haul routes, runners from Kenya were unable to provide comparable results. In the Kenyan society sporting ambitions of women for a long time were not supported. Sirma was in 1991 in Tokyo, the first Kenyan woman in history, who won a medal at the world championships. Together with runners like Sally Barsosio and Tegla Loroupe, who won at the World Championships in 1993 and 1995 bronze medals in the 10,000 m, she laid the groundwork for the rise of Kenyan women in the world top of the middle and long distance running.
Others
Susan Sirma is 1,63 m tall and weighed 52 kg to their active time. The successful long distance runner Lornah Kiplagat is her cousin and was inspired by them to work. Kiplagat said of Sirma: "She had run abroad, and when to she came home, to see her ... to see her train ... I would start to shake. It was like, ' Wow! ' We sang songs about her. We would walk around her house. When I would run after a goat, I would think, ' Run like Susan. ' Susan was like a really big thing. " ( " She had gone abroad, and when she came home to see her ... to see her train ... let me tremble. It was like, 'Wow! ' We sang songs about them. We walked around her house. When I ran after a goat, I thought, Run Like Susan. ' Susan was really a big deal. " )