Tegla Loroupe Biography

1973-

Kenyan marathon runner

In 1998 Kenyan runner Tegla Loroupe became the first African woman to win a major marathon when she came in first at the New York City Marathon in 1994. She then set a women's world record on the 26.2-mile marathon course at the 1998 Rotterdam Marathon, a record she broke in 1999 in Berlin, Germany. Loroupe has continued to show herself as one of the world's top female athletes. At four feet 11 inches and 88 pounds, she has also become one of the most recognizable women marathoners to fans of distance running.

Tegla Loroupe