Pamela Jelimo
Pamela Jelimo at Bislett Games 2008
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5 December 1989 (age 27) Nandi District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya |
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Medal record
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Pamela Jelimo (born 5 December 1989) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, specialising in the 800 metres. She won the gold medal in this event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing at the age of 18. She is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Kenyan to win the Golden League Jackpot. She holds both the 800 m world junior record and the senior African record over the same distance. Jelimo is also one of the youngest women to win an Olympic gold medal for Kenya.
Pamela Jelimo was born in Kiptamok village, Nandi District, Rift Valley Province. Her mother, Esther Cheptoo Keter, was a promising 200 metres and 400 metres runner, but the customs of the Nandi tribe meant that as the last-born daughter she could not marry and had to care for her parents in their old age. However, she was allowed to bear children to different men; thus, Jelimo was raised by her mother in a family of three brothers and six sisters. Jelimo began running in 2003, aged 13, at Koyo Secondary in the Kaptumo division, near Kapsabet. She quickly established herself as an accomplished athlete, winning at schools' championships in the 100 metres, 200 m, 400 m, 800 metres, 400 metres hurdles and heptathlon. Her high school games teacher Philip Ng'eno remarked that she used to compete with the boys in sprint events as the girls did not provide the competition she needed.
The family was poor and struggled to pay the fees to send Jelimo to secondary school — her two older siblings had already dropped out as they were unable to meet the costs. She refused to quit and began selling milk from the family cattle to pay her fees, traversing steep slopes on foot to sell it at Chemase market. The school headmaster Daniel Maru donated money for track suits and running shoes so that Jelimo could attend Kenya's centre of excellence for distance running. By 2004, Jelimo had reached the local provincial championships in the 400 m. Maru continued his generosity, allowing the young athlete to graduate while she still owed one year's worth of fees. Still, her mother was forced to sell her last cow so Jelimo could take her exams.Her family always supported her education.
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