Samuel Wanjiru, Kenyan runner (d. 2011)
Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (10 November 1986 – 15 May 2011) was a Kenyan long-distance runner who won the 2008 Beijing Olympics Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He became the youngest gold medallist in the marathon since 1932.
He set the current (as of 2020) 10,000m World Junior Record in 2005 and set the half marathon world record 3 times. In 2009, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon, running the fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury.
In 2011, he died after a fall from a balcony at his home in Nyahururu following a domestic dispute.
1986Nov, 10
Samuel Wanjiru
Choose Another Date
Events on 1986
- 25Feb
Ferdinand Marcos
People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first woman president. - 1Apr
Kathmandu
Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion. - 26Apr
Chernobyl disaster
A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. - 27Apr
Chernobyl disaster
The city of Pripyat as well as the surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster. - 2Jul
Augusto Pinochet
Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.