Simon Maina
Kenyan long-distance runner / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Simon Maina Munyi (born 18 March 1978) is a Kenyan former long-distance runner who competed in track and road running events. In his first year of international competition, he was the gold medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's athletics | ||
Representing Kenya | ||
Commonwealth Games | ||
1998 Kuala Lumpur | 10,000 m |
Maina was also runner-up at the 1998 Goodwill Games and represented Kenya at the 1999 All-Africa Games and Chiba Ekiden. He has personal bests of 27:18.74 minutes over 10,000 m and 60:48 minutes for the half marathon. He was the 1998 Kenyan champion over 10,000 m.
Based in Japan, he ran for the Toyota corporate running team. He won twice on the track at the Japan Championships in Athletics over 5000 metres. He switched to road running after 2004 and had podium finishes in the Nagoya and Sapporo half marathons. After suffering an injury in 2007 he was dropped by Toyota and was subsequently arrested and deported from Japan for violating his athlete's visa, raising concern in the sports media over foreign runners' treatment in Japan.