Catherine Ndereba

Catherine Nyambura Ndereba^[1] (born 21 July 1972) is a retired Kenyan marathon runner. Between 2003 and 2008, she finished in the top two in five successive global championship marathons. Ndereba has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008, becoming Kenya's first female multi-medalist. She is also a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and a two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon. It was at the latter in 2001 that she broke the women's marathon world record with a time of 2:18:47.^[2]

Catherine Ndereba

Ndereba at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
Personal information
Birth name	Wincatherine Nyambura Ndereba
Born	(1972-07-21) 21 July 1972 (age 52) Nyeri, Kenya
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	45 kg (99 lb)
Sport
Country	Kenya
Sport	Athletics
Event	Marathon
Retired	2008
Achievements and titles
Personal best	2:18:47 (Chicago 2001)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Kenya Olympic Games 2004 Athens Marathon 2008 Beijing Marathon World Championships 2003 Paris Marathon 2007 Osaka Marathon 2005 Helsinki Marathon World Marathon Majors 2000 Boston Marathon 2000 Chicago Marathon 2001 Boston Marathon 2001 Chicago Marathon 2004 Boston Marathon 2005 Boston Marathon 1999 New York City Marathon 2002 Boston Marathon 2002 Chicago Marathon 2003 London Marathon 2003 New York City Marathon 2006 New York City Marathon

In 2008, Ndereba was described by Chicago Tribune sportswriter Philip Hersh as the greatest women's marathoner of all time.^[3]

Career

Catherine Ndereba comes from Gatunganga in Nyeri District,^[4] and went to Ngorano Secondary School where she pursued her running career. In 1994, she was recruited into its athletics program by the Kenya Prisons Service.^[5] Ndereba was awarded the 2004 and 2005 Kenyan Sportswoman of the Year awards.^[6] She was awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior by President Mwai Kibaki in 2005.^[7]

Ndereba finished seventh at the 2009 London Marathon, equalling Katrin Dorre's record of 21 sub-2:30 hours marathons.^[8] She placed third at the Yokohama Women's Marathon later that year, finishing the course in a time of 2:29:13 hours.^[9] She did not finish another marathon race until October 2011, when she crossed the line in 2:30:14 hours for third at the Beijing Marathon.^[10]

Ndereba, whose nickname is "Catherine the Great",^[11] lives in Nairobi with her husband Anthony Maina and daughter Jane.^[12] Her brother Samuel and sister Anastasia are also marathon runners.^[13]

Achievements

Ndereba competing in the 2005 World Championships marathon.

• 1995
  • Represented Kenya internationally for the first time at a women's relay race in Seoul, Korea
• 1996
  • Ranked No. 2 in USA Track and Field's World Road Running Rankings; named Road Runner of the Year by Runner's World magazine and Road Racer of the Year by Running Times
• 1997
  • Did not race
  • Gave birth to daughter, Jane.
• 1998
  • Named Road Runner of the Year by Runner's World and Road Racer of the Year by Running Times
  • Won individual bronze and team gold at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Palermo, Italy
  • Ran the world's fastest times for the year at 5 kilometres (15:09), 12 kilometres (38:37), 15 kilometres (48:52), and 10 miles (53:07).^[14]
  • Made her marathon debut at the Boston Marathon, finishing sixth in 2:28:27 hours
  • Finished second at the New York City Marathon
• 2000
  • Boston Marathon winner
  • Chicago Marathon winner
  • Named AIMS World Athlete of the Year by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races^[15]
• 2001
  • City-Pier-City Loop (half marathon) winner.^[16]
  • Boston Marathon winner
  • Chicago Marathon winner in a world record time
• 2002
  • Finished second at the Boston Marathon. Also finished second at the Chicago Marathon
• 2003
  • World Championships gold medalist in the marathon
  • Sapporo half-marathon winner
  • Finished second at both the New York City Marathon and the London Marathon
• 2004
  • 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens - silver medalist in the marathon
  • Boston Marathon winner
• 2005
  • Boston Marathon winner (the first four-time woman's winner)
  • World Championships silver medalist
• 2006
  • Osaka International Ladies Marathon winner
  • Bogota Half Marathon winner^[17]
  • Finished third at the New York City Marathon
• 2007
  • World Championships gold medalist
  • Finished fifth at the New York City Marathon
• 2008
  • 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing - silver medalist in the marathon
  • Finished fifth at the New York City Marathon
• 2009
  • Finished sixth at the London Marathon
• 2011
  • Finished third at the Beijing International Marathon

Bibliography

• Catherine Ndereba: The Marathon Queen, by Ng’ang’a Mbugua. Sasa Sema Publications, 2008^[7]

References

1. "Wincatherine Nyambura Ndereba - Olympics Athletes - 2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China - ESPN". ESPN. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
2. Turnbull, Simon (16 April 2023). "Ndereba and Okayo – the marathon greats who blazed a trail for Kenyan women". World Athletics. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
3. Chicago Tribune, 8 October 2008: Ranking the Top 10 women marathoners
4. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Catherine Ndereba". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
5. The Standard, 28 October 2007: Catherine Ndereba: Racing to conquer the world^[usurped]
6. IAAF, 2 March 2006: Athletes dominate Kenyan Sports Awards
7. Daily Nation, Lifestyle Magazine, 15 November 2008: Fitting tribute to Marathon Queen Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
8. IAAF, 27 April 2009: Ndereba matches Dorre’s record total of 21 sub-2:30 marathons
9. Catherine Ndereba. Marathon Info. Retrieved on 17 October 2011.
10. Jalava, Mirko (16 October 2011). Kiprop and Wei Xiaojie triumph in Beijing. IAAF. Retrieved on 17 October 2011.
11. Marathon Great Catherine Ndereba Retires. Runner's World (2014-05-28). Retrieved 2020-05-25.
12. Hersh, Philip (2002-10-10). World record-holder Catherine Ndereba trains with her husband and sister, but it's her 5-year-old daughter who best motivates mom. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
13. Catherine Ndereba. Time. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
14. "Famous people from Kenya Catherine Ndereba". Kenya Travel Ideas. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
15. AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards Archived 2011-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
16. "City-Pier-City Half Marathon - List of winners". arrs.run.
17. IAAF website, 31 July 2008: Joseph and Ndereba win at the Bogota Half Marathon

External links

• Catherine Ndereba at World Athletics
• "Catherine Ndereba", n°38 on Time’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"
• "Catherine Ndereba" documentary project
• Famous People from Kenya

Records
Preceded by Naoko Takahashi	Women's Marathon World Record Holder 7 October 2001 – 13 October 2002	Succeeded by Paula Radcliffe