Catherine Ndereba
Ndereba at the 2007 World Championships
Catherine Nyambura Ndereba ( born July 21, 1972 in Nyeri ) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. She was twice world champion, once Vice World Champion and twice Olympic silver medalist in the marathon.
Ndereba, which belongs to the Kikuyu tribe, grew up in Nyeri in a large family with seven siblings. Even in high school, she was a passionate runner. Originally she wanted to be a teacher, but after the first sporting success they decided how many other runners to enter into the service of the Kenyan prisons. In the professional training she met Anthony Maina. 1995 both completed their training from, married and moved to Nairobi.
The following year, Ndereba started to launch in international road races, and was honored by Runner's World and Running Times with the title Road Racer of the Year. Even after a baby break 1997, she was successful. They finished third at the World Half Marathon Championships in 1999. In the same year she was at her debut over the full range Sixth Boston Marathon and second in the New York City Marathon. In 2000, she won both the Boston Marathon as well as the Chicago Marathon, as in the following year, where she set up in Chicago with a world record 2:18:47 h.
In both races, it was 2002 Second. The following year, she won second place in the London Marathon and the New York Marathon and won the marathon in the World Athletics Championships 2003 in Paris / Saint- Denis. Differences with the Kenyan Association had 2000 prevents participation in the Olympic Games in Sydney. Only at the 2004 Games in Athens, she was able to start. She won the silver medal, behind Mizuki Noguchi (JPN ) and before Deena Kastor (USA) in the marathon. Like last year, they won the 2005 Boston Marathon, making it the local record winner. At the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, she was in the marathon second behind Paula Radcliffe.
In 2006 she won the Osaka Women's Marathon, finishing in third place at the New York Marathon. In the heat race of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, she won on September 2, 2007 Marathon in 2:30:37 min. It is thus the first marathon World Champion was twice, and so far the oldest title holder. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 she was again able to win the silver medal, this time behind Constantina Tomescu from Romania and in front of the Chinese Zhou Chunxiu.
Catherine Ndereba has a competition weight of 45 kg at a height of 1.60 m. Because of the support that is given to her by her husband, who is her manager and looks after her daughter in her absence, both are in Kenya as role models for emancipated pairs. Her two younger siblings Anastasia and Samuel Ndereba are also successful as a long distance runner.