February 28 Birthdays

1929
Rhadi ben Abdesselam, Morocco, long-distance runner. In 1960 he won the International Cross Country title. Later in the year he finished 14th in the (Rome) Olympic 10,000-meter run, and two days later won the silver medal in the Olympic marathon (2:15:41.6), finishing 25 seconds behind the great Abebe Bikila. Historians believe that the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome was Rhadi Ben Abdesselam's first and only marathon.

February 27 Birthdays

1957
Rob de Castella, Australian long-distance runner. De Castella was a three-time Olympian (1980, 1984, 1988), held the world record in the marathon (2:08:18) from 1981 to 1984, and won the marathon at the IAAF World Championships in 1983 (Helsinki).

February 25 Birthdays

1938

Herbert "Herb" James Elliott, Australia, middle-distance runner. Coached by the sometimes overbearing and alway eccentric Percy Cerutty, Herb Elliott never lost a race at either the mile or 1,500m. He set a world record in the mile (3:54.5) in 1958 and world records in the 1,500m in 1958 (3:36.0) and 1960 (3:35.6). At the 1958 (Cardiff) Commonwealth Games Elliott won gold medals in the 880-yard run and the mile. In the 1,500m at the 1960 (Rome) Olympic Games, Elliott refused to run a timid, tactical race and instead pushed the pace, leading almost from the sound of the starting gun. The results was a gold medal and a world and Olympic-record time of 3:35.6. He retired from athletics in 1961; his full running career is covered in the 1961 biography The Herb Elliott Story.

February 24 Birthdays

1889
Albin Stenroos, Finnish long-distance runner. Stenroos won the 1924 (Paris) Olympic marathon. 35 years old, at the time he was the oldest ever gold medalist in that event. Two years later, Stenroos finished second at the Boston Marathon. For almost 60 years, this was the closest that any athlete would come to winning both of those prestigious marathon races.

February 21 Birthdays

1937
Ron Clarke, Australian long-distance runner. Clarke held the world record in the 10,000 meter run from 1963 to 1972, won a bronze medal in the 10,000m in the 1964 (Tokyo) Olympics and won a silver medal in the 1966 (Kingston) Commonwealth Games.

February 18 Birthdays

1947
Carlos Lopes, Portuguese long-distance runner. When Carlos Lopes won the IAAF world cross country title in 1976, he was only just getting started. Later that same year he won the silver medal at the Montreal Olympic 10,000m run, outkicked on the last lap by the great Lasse Virén. In 1984 he won a second IAAF world cross country championship, then struck gold in the Los Angeles Olympic marathon. The following year, 1985, he captured a third world cross country title at the IAAF championships in Lisbon. Only weeks later in Rotterdam he set a world best mark of 2:07:12 in the marathon, becoming the first man to run under 2:08:00.

February 16 Birthdays

1964
Valentina Yegorova, Russia, long-distance runner. When Yegorova started the 1992 (Barcelona) Olympic marathon, she had already run thirteen marathons but won only one. When her fourteenth marathon was over, she had won an Olympic gold medal (2:32:41). Yegorova went on to win the 1993 (2:26:40) and 1994 (2:30:09) Tokyo Marathons, placed second in the 1994 Boston Marathon (2:23:33), and win the silver medal in the 1996 (Atlanta) Olympic Games marathon (2:28:05).

February 13 Birthdays

1953
Suleiman Nyambui, Tanzania, distance runner. Attending the University of Texas at El Paso, Nyambui won four straight NCAA titles in the 10,000m from 1979 to 1982, also winning three NCAA 5,000m titles, the 1980 NCAA cross-country championship, and setting the world record in the indoor 5,000m (13:20.4). During this same period he won the silver medal for 5,000m at the 1980 (Moscow) Olympic Games, running 13:21.60 behind Ethiopia's Miruts Yifter.

February 12 Birthdays

1952
Henry Rono. Kenyan distance-running great Henry Rono staged a remarkable assault on the record books in 1978, setting four world records in four different events in 81 days, starting with the 5,000m on 8 April 1978 and completing the run with the 3,000m on 27 June 1978. Rono set records in the 5,000m (13:08.4), 3,000m steeplechase (8:05.4), 10,000m (27:22.47), and 3,000m (7:32.1).

February 11 Birthdays

1938

Mohammed Gammoudi, Tunisia, distance runner. Over a long career of Olympic competition, Gammoudi won the silver medal in the 1964 (Tokyo) Olympic Games 10,000m (28:24.8), the gold medal in the 1968 (Mexico City) Olympic Games 5,000m (14:05.01), the bronze medal in the 1968 (Mexico City) Olympic Games 10,000m (29:34.2), and the silver medal in the 1972 (Munich) Olympic Games 5,000m (13:27.33).

February 10 Birthdays

1882
Kennedy Kane McArthur, South African long-distance runner. Irish-born McArthur won the gold medal in the 1912 Olympic marathon in Stockholm, Sweden.

February 6 Birthdays

1934
Arthur Barrington "Barry" Magee, New Zealand, distance runner. Magee burst into international running prominence by winning a bronze medal in the 1960 (Rome) Olympic marathon (2:17:18.2). Later that year he won the Asahi marathon in Fukuoka in an event-record 2:19:04. In 1961 he ran on a New Zealand 4 x 1-mile relay team that set the world record in that event at a meet in Dublin, Ireland.

February 5 Birthdays

1937
Gaston Roelants, Belgian distance runner. Roelants was a four-time world cross-country champion (1962, 1967, 1969, 1972), the 1964 (Tokyo) Olympic gold medalist in the 3000m steeplechase, and set world records in the steeplechase in 1963 (8:29.6) and 1965 (8:26.4).