Ondoro Osoro

Who is Ondoro Osoro?

Ondoro Osoro is a former Kenyan long-distance runner who competed mostly in cross country and road races.

In his early career he won a series of cross country races in Europe and twice represented Kenya at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He also ran the 5000 metres on the track, competing at the World Championships in Athletics and winning a bronze medal at the 1991 All-Africa Games. He won the San Silvestre Vallecana 10 km road race three times during this period.

A serious car accident in 1995 left him unable to compete, but he returned to action with a world record for the 10-mile run in late 1997. On his debut over the 42.195 kilometres distance, he won the 1998 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:06:54 hours, which ranked him as the third fastest ever at that point and was the fastest ever debut run for the marathon. He was third in Chicago in 1999 and came fourth at the 2000 Boston Marathon. He was picked for the Kenyan Olympic team at the 2000 Sydney Games, but was shot in the neck during a carjacking in Kenya a month before the competition.

He began running again in 2001, but the kidnapping of his son and a bout of malaria reduced his competitive appearances. Although nerve damage from the shooting meant he ran with a constant lean to the right, he placed third at the 2002 Honolulu Marathon and won the San Diego Marathon in 2003. He went on to have two more top ten finishes in the San Diego race and placed ninth in the 2004 Frankfurt Marathon.