Kipchoge Keino, Athletics (Kenya)

A year after the Tokyo 1964 Games, another African took center stage. Kipchoge Keino broke the men’s 3,000m world record on his first attempt at this distance. At 1968 Olympicshe ran the 10,000m, suffering from gallstones.

He collapsed just after the halfway point but still held on to finish the race, although he was disqualified for going off the track.

At the same Games, while on its way to the 1,500m, the athletes’ bus got stuck in traffic. He came down and ran the 3 km to the stadium and won the gold medal by 20 m, which was the largest margin of victory in the history of the race.

Kip Keino also won silver in the 5000m in Mexico.

Four years later, in Munich, during the 1972 gamesdespite his lack of racing experience, he won gold in the 3000 m steeplechase and silver in the 1500 m.

Derartu Tulu, Athletics (Ethiopia)

Another trail pioneer is Derartu Tulu, who went from raising family cows in the small isolated village of Bekoji, in central Ethiopia, to that of first woman from sub-Saharan Africa to win an Olympic medalwith his gold medal in the longest track event in Barcelona 1992.

Tulu regained her Olympic gold medal in the 10,000m Sydney 2000before becoming world champion in 2001, another iconic performance that paved the way for future generations of African long-distance runners.