Vivian Cheruiyot

Vivian Cheruiyot

Cheruiyot at the 2016 Rio Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot
Nickname	Pocket Rocket
Born	(1983-09-11) 11 September 1983 (age 42) Keiyo, Rift Valley, Kenya[1]
Height	1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	40 kg (88 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Kenya
Sport	Athletics
Event	Long-distance running
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2000 Sydney 5000 m, 14th 2008 Beijing 5000 m, 4th 2012 London 5000 m,  Silver 10,000 m,  Bronze 2016 Rio 5000 m,  Gold 10,000 m,  Silver
World finals	2007 Osaka 5000 m,  Silver 2009 Berlin 5000 m,  Gold 2011 Daegu 5000 m,  Gold 10,000 m,  Gold 2015 Beijing 10,000 m,  Gold
Personal bests	5000 m: 14:20.87 (Stockholm 2011) 10,000 m: 29:32.53 NR (Rio de Janeiro 2016) Marathon: 2:18:31 (London 2018)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Kenya Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 5000 m 2012 London 5000 m 2016 Rio de Janeiro 10,000 m 2012 London 10,000 m World Championships 2009 Berlin 5000 m 2011 Daegu 5000 m 2011 Daegu 10,000 m 2015 Beijing 10,000 m 2007 Osaka 5000 m World Indoor Championships 2010 Doha 3000 m Diamond League 2010 5000 m 2011 5000 m 2012 5000 m Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi 5000 m All-Africa Games 1999 Johannesburg 5000 m African Championships 2010 Nairobi 5000 m World Junior Championships 2002 Kingston 5000 m African Junior Championships 2001 Réduit 5000 m World Youth Championships 1999 Bydgoszcz 3000 m World Marathon Majors 2018 London Marathon 2018 New York Marathon 2019 London Marathon 2024 New York Marathon World Cross Country Championships 2000 Vilamoura Junior race 2011 Punta Umbría Senior race 2011 Punta Umbría Senior team 1999 Belfast Junior race 2007 Mombasa Senior team 2002 Dublin Junior race

Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born 11 September 1983)^[2] is a Kenyan long-distance runner. She represented Kenya at the Summer Olympics in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016, winning the silver medal in the 5,000 metres and bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics as well as gold in the 5,000 m and silver in the 10,000 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, setting a new Olympic record in the former. Cheruiyot won the silver medal in the 5,000 m at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and became the world champion in the event at the 2009 edition, repeating this achievement in 2011, when she also won the 10,000 m. She added gold for the latter event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. After taking a silver in the 3,000 metres at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, Cheruiyot won a number of outdoor 5,000 m titles that year, becoming Commonwealth Games, African and Continental Cup champion, as well as winning the Diamond League title.

She is a three-time Diamond League champion, having also won the 2011 and 2012 editions. She is the Kenyan record holder for the 2,000 m and 10,000 m. In 2012, Cheruiyot was voted Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. She is nicknamed "pocket rocket".^[3]

Vivian Cheruiyot is trained by Ricky Simms.^[4] She was born near Keiyo in the Rift Valley Province, coming from the same village as another female runner Alice Timbilili.^[5]

Her breakthrough year came in 1999: at the age of fifteen she took the junior silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships behind Werknesh Kidane. At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres. Cheruiyot earned a senior call-up for the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she managed a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She became the junior champion at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Cheruiyot gained selection for the 2000 Olympic Games and reached the 5000 m final after setting personal bests in the qualifying rounds. She was much slower in the final and was the last runner to finish.^[6]

Cheruiyot won the silver medal at the 5000 m final of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan with a time of 14:58.50, behind Meseret Defar in 14:57.91.^[7]

In early 2009 she broke the Kenyan indoor 3000 m record with a time of 8:30.53 in Birmingham, and won the World's Best 10K race in Puerto Rico.^[8] In May, she won the Great Manchester Run 10K race. Cheruiyot won the women's 5000 m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a time of 14 minutes 58.33 seconds, while countrywoman Sylvia Kibet took the silver. She closed the track season with a 3000 m silver and a 5000 m bronze at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. She won the 2009 New Year's Eve San Silvestre Vallecana race.^[9]

Cheruiyot retained her World's Best 10K title in 2010.^[10] An appearance at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships resulted in a silver medal in the 3000 m behind Meseret Defar. Cheruiyot then headed the Kenyan 5000 m challenge at the African Championships in Athletics in Nairobi and beat Defar on this occasion to take the African title.^[11] After this, her main focus of the year was the Diamond League. She took victories in the 5000 m at the Meeting Areva and Memorial van Damme and was elected the inaugural Diamond League Trophy winner for the event on overall points.^[12] She defeated Sentayehu Ejigu at the Continental Cup to take the 5000 m gold medal for Africa.^[13] Another gold medal in the event came at the Commonwealth Games held that year in Delhi, where she headed a Kenyan podium sweep with Sylvia Kibet and Ines Chenonge.^[14] Cheruiyot returned to Kenya to train and took an 8 km win at the Tuskys Cross Country meeting.^[15] She ended the year on a high note with a win at the BOclassic 5K race on New Year's Eve.^[16]

Cheruiyot began preparing for the World Cross Country Championships in January 2011 and came third at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country before overhauling Linet Masai to win the Cross de Itálica in Seville.^[17][18] A second-place finish at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships guaranteed her a place in the Kenyan squad and, in contrast to her successes on the track, she was looking to win her first cross country medal on the world stage.^[19] Her rival Masai led the initial charge at the World Cross Country Championships, but Cheruiyot broke away on the final lap to secure the gold medal and lead Kenya to the women's team title.^[20]

She started 2012 with a win at the World's Best 10K and improved her best on the roads to 30:47 minutes.^[21] She opened the Diamond League circuit with narrow wins ahead of Meseret Defar, first in the 3000 m in Doha and then over 5000 m in Rome.^[22] Cheruiyot guaranteed her place at the Olympics by winning the 10,000 m trial in Nairobi in June.^[23] At the Olympics, she won the silver medal in the 5000 metres and a bronze at the 10,000 metres.^[1]

In 2018, she won the 2018 London Marathon with a time of 2:18:31.^[2]

She took second place in the 2018 New York City Marathon, finishing in 2:26:02 far behind winner Mary Keitany in 2:22:48, and 20 seconds ahead of Shalane Flanagan who ran 2:26:22.^[24]

All information taken from World Athletics profile.^[2]

Representing  Kenya

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time
1998	World Cross Country Championships	Marrakech, Morocco	5th	Junior race (6 km)	19:47
1999	World Cross Country Championships	Belfast, Northern Ireland	2nd	Junior race (6.124 km)	21:37
	All-Africa Games	Johannesburg, South Africa	3rd	5000 m	15:42.79
	World Youth Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	3rd	3000 m	9:04.42
2000	World Cross Country Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	1st	Junior race (6.29 km)	20:34
2001	World Cross Country Championships	Ostend, Belgium	4th	Junior race (5.9 km)	20:22
	African Junior Championships	Réduit, Mauritius	1st	5000 m	16:19.54
2002	World Cross Country Championships	Dublin, Ireland	3rd	Junior race (5.962 km)	20:22
	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	3rd	5000 m	15:56.04
2004	World Cross Country Championships	Brussels, Belgium	8th	Short race (4 km)	13:23
2006	World Cross Country Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	8th	Short race (4 km)	13:10
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	3rd	3000 m	8:38.86
			5th	5000 m	16:07.95
2007	World Cross Country Championships	Mombasa, Kenya	8th	Long race (8 km)	28:10
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	2nd	5000 m	14:58.50
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	2nd	3000 m	8:28.66 PB
			1st	5000 m	14:56.94
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	4th	5000 m	15:46.32
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	2nd	3000 m	8:44.64
			2nd	5000 m	14:54.60
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	1st	5000 m	14:57.97
	World Athletics Final	Thessaloniki, Greece	2nd	3000 m	8:30.61
			3rd	5000 m	15:26.21
2010	World Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	2nd	3000 m	8:51.85
	African Championships	Nairobi, Kenya	1st	5000 m	16:18.73
	Continental Cup	Split, Croatia	1st	5000 m	16:05.74
	Commonwealth Games	New Delhi, India	1st	5000 m	15:55.12
2011	World Cross Country Championships	Punta Umbría, Spain	1st	Senior race (8 km)	24:58
	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	1st	5000 m	14:55.36
			1st	10,000 m	30:48.98
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	2nd	5000 m	15:04.73
			3rd	10,000 m	30:30.44
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	1st	10,000 m	31:41.31
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	5000 m	14:26.17 OR
			2nd	10,000 m	29:32.53 NR

• Golden League
  • 2007: Berlin ISTAF
  • 2008: Brussels Memorial Van Damme
• Diamond League Overall 5000 metres winner: 2010, 2011, 2012

5000 metres wins, other events specified in parentheses

• 2010 (3): Lausanne Athletissima (3000 m, WL MR), Paris Meeting Areva) (WL MR), Brussels Memorial Van Damme
• 2011 (4): Shanghai Golden Grand Prix (WL), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (MR), Stockholm DN Galan (WL NR), Zürich Weltklasse (MR)
• 2012 (4): Doha Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix (3000 m, WL), Rome Golden Gala (WL), London Grand Prix, Brussels
• 2016 (1): Birmingham British Grand Prix

• Kenyan Athletics Championships
  • 1500 metres: 2009, 2015
  • 5000 metres: 1999, 2010
  • 10,000 metres: 2011, 2012

• 2012 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year^[25]

• Vivian Cheruiyot at World Athletics
• Vivian Cheruiyot at Diamond League
• Vivian Cheruiyot at Olympics.com
• Vivian Cheruiyot at Olympedia
• Vivian Cheruiyot at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Vivian Cheruiyot at The-Sports.org
• Read Vivian Cheruiyot's Rising Star Profile on spikesmag.com