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Saturday Legends
Pamela Jelimo (born December 5, 1989) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, specialising in the 800 metres. She won the gold medal in 800 metres at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing at the age of 18. She is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Kenyan to win the Golden League Jackpot.
She holds the world junior record for 800 meters as well as the senior African record for the same distance. Jelimo is also one of Kenya's youngest women to win an Olympic gold medal.
Pamela Jelimo ushered in a new era in Kenyan women's athletics, particularly for 800m runners. In just four months of competing at 800 metres, she ran run 11 races, broke four World junior records, three African records, won an African championship, and now won Olympic gold – a lifelong dream for many athletes over long, long careers.
Kelly Holmes, the 2004 champion, needed three Olympics and years of heartbreak to get there. And yet, Jelimo accomplished this feat in her first year as an international, at her first senior championships.
By 2004, the young Jelimo, the fourth of nine children, had reached the local provincial championships in the 400m. She qualified for the nationals in both the 200 and 400 meters in 2005, but did not compete in 2006 due to her final year of high school examinations.
Jelimo dedicated her gold medal in Beijing to her mother, Rodah Jeptoo Keter, a widow and former amateur runner who has been instrumental in her daughter's success.
Ibrahim Hussein
Ibrahim Kipkemboi Hussein (born 3 June 1958 in Kapsabet, Rift Valley) is a retired Kenyan long-distance runner who won the Boston Marathon three times in 1988, 1991, and 1992. He was also the first Kenyan to win the New York City Marathon in 1987, as well as numerous other marathons throughout his career. He and his wife, Zainab Ibrahim, both attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, USA.
Ibrahim Hussein was the first Kenyan (and the first African) to win the Boston Marathon, setting a world record and inspiring books about his legacy. Since his victory in 1988, Kenyans have come to dominate Boston, winning the race every year with only nine exceptions since 1988. Since 1988, the only non-Africans to win Boston have been South Korean Lee Bong-Ju, Italian Gelindo Bordin, and Japanese Yu.
He is now retired and owns Amedo Center, an apartment complex with a restaurant, pool, and electronics store. in Eldoret, Kenya, as well as numerous other properties throughout Kenya. He also runs a training camp for young Kenyan athletes who are given the opportunity to compete against elite athletes. He was the North Rift branch chairman of Athletics Kenya.
After John Velzian's retirement, he now holds one of only nine offices in the world at the Regional Development Center in Nairobi. He serves as a representative of English-speaking countries in Africa, holding one of the most important positions associated with the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), an athletic federation that governs the sport of athletics.
His victory in Boston in 1988 came down to a photo finish with Juma Ikangaa. Hussein beat Ikangaa by a fraction of a second. Until that point, this was the closest Boston Marathon finish ever.