Career timelines
Paul Tergat: cross-country titles, Olympic medals and marathons
A timeline of his racing career and later public work, with historical records kept in context.
What this record covers
Selected track, cross-country, marathon and public-service milestones from 1992 to September 2023. This is not a full results list or a statement of current appointments.
Position at the coverage date
Kenyan distance runner whose dated race results and later foundation work are documented in sporting and institutional records. [s1] [s2] [s3] [s4] [s5] [s6]
Record details
- Across surfaces
- Tergat built a championship record on grass, track and roads before moving to the marathon. [s2] [s3]
- Marathon learning
- The Berlin retrospective traces several runner-up finishes before his breakthrough victory in Germany. [s4]
- A dated world record
- World Athletics dates the Berlin mark of 2:04:55 to 2003; it is a historical world record. [s1] [s4]
- Conflicting best-year label
- Olympedia’s personal-best line labels the marathon time 2004, but its biography and World Athletics place the Berlin record in 2003. [s2] [s1]
- Public work
- WHO describes his foundation’s work through sport and education and his connection to the Olympic Refugee Foundation. [s6]
The sequence
15 documented milestones. Highlighted entries mark turning points. Dates retain the precision of the source.
career
Won the Kenyan cross-country title
World Athletics dates his Kenyan Cross Country Championships win to 1992.
career
Began a run of world cross-country titles
World Athletics records five consecutive titles from 1995 to 1999.
career
Won world 10,000m bronze
Olympedia records the bronze medal at Gothenburg in 1995.
career
Won Olympic 10,000m silver
Olympedia records his Atlanta silver medal in 1996.
career
Set a 10,000m mark of 26:27.85
World Athletics dates this mark to 22 August 1997; its retrospective identifies the performance as a world record at the time.
career
Won the world half-marathon title
World Athletics records his first of two consecutive world half-marathon titles in 1999.
career
Won a second Olympic silver
Olympedia records another Olympic 10,000m silver medal in 2000.
career
Retained the half-marathon title
World Athletics records the second consecutive title in 2000.
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Finished second in London and Chicago
Olympedia records runner-up finishes in both marathons in 2001.
career
Set the Berlin marathon world record
World Athletics records his 2:04:55 finish on 28 September 2003.
career
Began World Food Programme ambassador work
The historical World Athletics biography dates the start of his goodwill ambassador role to January 2004.
career
Founded the Paul Tergat Foundation
WHO dates the foundation’s establishment to 2005 and describes its work with disadvantaged children and youth in Kenya.
career
Won the New York City Marathon
The 6 November 2005 race report records victory in 2:09:30, just ahead of Hendrick Ramaala.
career
Joined the Olympic Refugee Foundation board
WHO’s later profile dates his board service from 2021. This is a historical appointment record.
announcement
WHO announced a planned Geneva appearance
On 8 May 2023, WHO announced Tergat’s planned participation in Walk the Talk. The announcement alone does not confirm attendance.
Sources & evidence
- [s1] worldathletics.org
- [s2] www.olympedia.org
- [s3] worldathletics.org
- [s4] worldathletics.org
- [s5] worldathletics.org
- [s6] www.who.int
Public update history
— Researched against the cited evidence and independently checked before publication. Coverage limits apply.
— Titles and explanatory text passed the copywriting and source-consistency checks. Sources and data are unchanged.