William Tanui

William Tanui ( William Kiptarus Tanui; born February 22, 1964 in Kemeloi, Rift Valley Province ) is a former Kenyan middle distance runner and Olympic champion.

Tanui came relatively late to international prominence when he won the 1,500 - meter race at the Kenyan Commonwealth Games 1989. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland he finished only sixth place. At the Track - Africa Championships in Cairo, he won the 800 -meter run. At the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Seville in 1991 he crossed though as the finish line first, but was disqualified because he had left his career early.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he won the 800 meters gold medal before also from Kenya originating Nixon Kiprotich ( silver ) and the American Johnny Gray ( bronze). At the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart in 1993, he could not confirm its shape and was only seventh.

In the following years he focused more on the 1,500 -meter run and finished fifth in this event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In World Indoor Championships, he was more than 1500 m of third parties in Paris in 1997 and fourth in 1999 in Maebashi.