Wilfred Bungei

Wilfred Bungei
	Bungei at the 2007 Osaka World Championships.
Personal information
Birth name	Wilfred Kipkemboi Bungei
Nationality	Kenya
Born	24 July 1980 (age 44); Kabirirsang, Kenya
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	800 metres
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing Kenya
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Indoor Championships

Wilfred Kipkemboi Bungei (born 24 July 1980) is a Kenyan retired Middle-distance runner, who won the 800 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[1] He also won at the World indoor Championships in Moscow 2006 the 800 metres title, defeating Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Olympic Champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy in the race.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Bungei was ranked No.1 in the world over 800 m in 2002 and 2003. He has a personal best of 1:42.34 minutes (Rieti 2002). At the 2001 World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton he won a silver medal over 800 m, finishing behind André Bucher.^{[citation needed]}

While in school, he focused on sprints and decathlon, before concentrating on 800 metres running.^[2] He graduated from Samoei High School in 1998. At the 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics he won a silver medal. Bungei represented his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Bungei is from Kabirirsang, a village near Kapsabet. Several of his relatives are runners, including his brother Sammy Kurgat, who won the 2008 Cologne Marathon. He is a second cousin to Kenyan-born Danish former athlete Wilson Kipketer, while his mum is a cousin of Henry Rono.^[2]

Bungei is based near Verona, Italy during track season. He is married to Priscah Bungei with two sons (as of 2008).^[3]

He was part of the 4 × 800 metres relay team who currently holds the world record.^{[citation needed]}