Paul Tergat

Paul Tergat (born June 17, 1969) is regarded by many as the father of Kenyan long distance running. He currently holds the half-marathon and marathon world records of 59:17 and 2:04:55 respectively, which were set in Milan in 1998 and on September 28, 2003 in Berlin, Germany. He has often had to face second place, behind the greatest distance runner of all time, the Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie. In the Olympic Games 10000m finals of both 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney), the Ethiopian 'Emperor' beat Tergat by a nose after Tergat led both races into the final lap. However, when the two met in the London Marathon in 2002, it was Tergat, four years Gebrselassie's senior, who got home first, behind then world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi.

In January 2004 Tergat was named a UN World Food Programme (WFP) "Ambassador against hunger". As a child he had to run miles to school every day without enough to eat, until his school became one of many to benefit from the WFP's free daily school-lunch programme.

Tergat still represents his country but thinks that 2004 may be his last year in competitive running.