Samuel Kamau Wanjiru

Wanjiru entering the stadium in his marathon victory at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	Kenyan
Born	(1986-11-10)10 November 1986
Died	15 May 2011(2011-05-15) (aged 24) Nyahururu
Height	1.63 metres (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	52 kilograms (110 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	Half marathon, marathon
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	5000 m: 13:12.40 (2005) 10000 m: 26:41.75 (2005) Half marathon: 58:33 (2007) Marathon: 2:05:10 (2009)
Medal record Men's athletics Competitor for  Kenya Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Marathon

Samuel Kamau Wanjiru (10 November 1986 – 15 May 2011) was a Kenyan athlete who specialized in long distance running. He became a professional at a young age and broke the world record in the half marathon when he was 18 years old. In 2007, he broke the 20km road running record and improved the half marathon record by over twenty seconds.

He moved to the full marathon and won the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. The following year, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon, running the fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury.

In 2011, he died after falling off a balcony at his home in Nyahururu following a domestic dispute. Police are still uncertain whether his death was a suicide, homicide, or accidental.^[1][2]

Running career[link]

Early career[link]

Samuel Kamau was brought up with his brother Simon Njoroge in poverty by his mother Hannah Wanjiru, daughter of Samuel Kamau,^[3][4] and took her given name as a surname, because she was a single mother. He dropped out of school aged about 12, because they could not afford the school fees.^[5]

Wanjiru started running at the age of 8. In 2002, he moved to Japan and went to Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Sendai. He had success on the Japanese cross country circuit, where he won the Fukuoka International Cross Country at sixteen years old in 2003. He went on to win in both Fukuoka and at the Chiba International Cross Country consecutively in 2004 and 2005.^[6] After graduating in 2005, he joined the Toyota Kyūshū athletics team, coached by 1992 Olympic marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita.^[7]

Wanjiru had a 5000 m best of 13:12.40, run as a 17-year-old in April 2004 in Hiroshima, Japan. At the age of only 18, Wanjiru broke the half marathon world record on 11 September 2005 in the Rotterdam Half Marathon with a time of 59:16 minutes, officially beating Paul Tergat's half-marathon record of 59:17 minutes. This was preceded two weeks earlier by a bettering of the 10,000 m world junior record by a margin of almost 23 seconds in the IAAF Golden League Van Damme Memorial Race on 26 August. His WJR time of 26:41.75 was good enough for third place in the race behind Kenenisa Bekele's world record of 26:17.53 and Boniface Kiprop's 26:39.77. It was Kiprop who held the previous world junior mark (27:04.00 minutes), set at the same meeting the previous year.^[8]

World records and Olympic gold[link]

Wanjiru took back the half marathon world record, which Haile Gebrselassie broke in early 2006, with 58:53 minutes on 9 February 2007 at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon^[9] and improved it to 58:33 on 17 March 2007 in the City-Pier-City Loop in The Hague, Netherlands. While improving his own record, he recorded an unofficial time of 55:31 for 20km, which was faster than Haile Gebrselassie's world record but was never ratified due to the timing methods in the race.^[10]

Wanjiru approaching the finishing line at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Wanjiru made his marathon debut at Fukuoka Marathon on 2 December 2007, winning it impressively with a course record of 2:06:39.^[11] He started 2008 by winning the Zayed International Half Marathon and receiving a prize of US $300,000.^[12] In the 2008 London Marathon, he came in second, breaking 2:06 for the first time. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wanjiru won the marathon gold medal in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32, smashing the previous record of 2:09:21 set by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in the 1984 Olympics.^[13] He received the AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award that year in recognition of his performances.^[14]

London and Chicago wins[link]

At the Granollers Half Marathon in February 2008, in which Wanjiru won, the Kenyan stated his intent for the future, saying, "in five years' time I feel capable of clocking a sub 2 hours time for the marathon."^[15] In April 2009, Wanjiru won the London Marathon in a time of 2:05:10, a new personal record and also a new course record. He was pleased with the achievement and stated that he hoped to break Haile Gebrselassie's world record in the near future.^[16] At the Rotterdam Half Marathon, Wanjiru clocked a 1:01:08 on 13 September, which was won by Sammy Kitwara with a time of 58:58.^[17] In October 2009, Wanjiru won the Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:05:41, setting a new course record for the city and the fastest marathon time ever run in the United States.^[18] The wins in London and Chicago helped him reach the top of the World Marathon Majors rankings for 2009, earning him a jackpot of US$500,000.^[19]

He signed up to defend his title at the 2010 London Marathon, but he encountered knee trouble at the midway point of the race and decided to drop out to avoid further injury – the first time in six marathons that he had failed to finish.^[20] He chose to run at the 2010 Chicago Marathon in October, but a stomach virus before the race had harmed his preparations and he entered the competition with the lesser aim of reaching the top three. Tsegaye Kebede took the opportunity to forge a lead, but Wanjiru (despite a lack of peak physical form) persevered with the pace and caught up with the Ethiopian. He took the lead in the final 400 m to defend his title in Chicago with a time of 2:06:24. "It was the greatest surprise I have ever seen in my life", remarked his coach, Federico Rosa, on the performance.^[21][22]

Personal life[link]

Wanjiru was arrested by Kenyan police at his house in Nyahururu in December 2010 and charged with threatening to kill his wife and illegally possessing an AK-47 rifle. He denied both the accusations and claimed that he was being framed.^[23][24]

Wanjiru's cousin Joseph Riri is a world-class marathon runner,^[25] and Wanjiru's younger brother Simon Njoroge is also a long-distance runner.^{[citation needed]}

Wanjiru and his wife Teresa Njeri, a beautician, had a daughter Anne Wanjiru and a son Simon Njoroge.^[26][27]

Wanjiru also had a second wife, Judy Wambui Wairimu, who was pregnant when he died and has since had a son.^[28]

Death[link]

On 15 May 2011, Wanjiru died from a fall off a balcony at his home in Nyahururu, a town in the Rift Valley, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of the capital, Nairobi.^[1] Wanjiru appeared to have suffered internal injuries after the fall and was confirmed dead by doctors at a nearby hospital after attempts to revive him failed.^[2]

Police said Wanjiru's wife, Triza Njeri, had come home to find him in bed with another woman. She locked the couple in the bedroom and ran outside. Wanjiru then leapt from the balcony.^[1] Police are unsure if Wanjiru intended suicide or jumped out of rage, and are investigating the circumstances related to Njeri and his female companion that led to his death.^[1][29]

Achievements[link]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Kenya
2007	Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon	Ras Al Khaimah, UAE	1st	Half marathon	58:53 = WR
	Fukuoka Marathon	Fukuoka, Japan	1st	Marathon	2:06:39
2008	Summer Olympics	Bejing, China	1st	Marathon	2:06:32 = OR
2009	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	1st	Marathon	2:05:10
	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, United States	1st	Marathon	2:05:41
2010	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, United States	1st	Marathon	2:06:23

Awards

• 2005 Kenyan Most Promising Sportsman of the Year award.^[30]
• 2008 Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award.^[31]

Personal bests[link]

Samuel Wanjiru, breaking a world record in the 2007 Fortis City-Pier-City Half Marathon

Most information taken from IAAF profile.^[32]

Key: † = World junior record, ‡ = Unofficial

References[link]

External links[link]

• IAAF profile for Samuel Kamau Wanjiru
• Focus on Athletes article from IAAF
• Samuel Kamau's Story at Peak Sports Management
• Rosa & Associati profile
• Samuel Wanjiru reviews after Rotterdam half marathon
• Samuel Wanjiru: End of the Run – slideshow by Life magazine
• New Yorker bio

Records
Preceded by Paul Tergat Haile Gebrselassie	Men's half marathon world record holder 11 September 2005 – 15 January 2006 9 February 2007 – 21 March 2010	Succeeded by Haile Gebrselassie Zersenay Tadese
Sporting positions
Preceded by Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot	Rotterdam men's half marathon winner 2005	Succeeded by Zersenay Tadese
Preceded by Haile Gebrselassie	Men's half marathon best year performance 2007	Succeeded by Shared between Haile Gebrselassie & Deriba Merga

Samuel
Infant Samuel by Joshua Reynolds 1723
Prophet, Seer
Honored in	Judaism Christianity Islam
Major shrine	Tomb of Samuel, Jerusalem

Samuel ( /ˈsæm.juː.əl/;^[1] Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֶל, Modern Shmu'el Tiberian Šəmûʼēl; Greek: Σαμουήλ Samouēl; Latin: Samvel; صموئيل, Ṣamu’īl; Strong's: Shemuwel) is a leader of ancient Israel in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. He is also known as a prophet and is mentioned in the Qur'an.^[2]

His status, as viewed by rabbinical literature, is that he was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets who began to prophesy inside the Land of Israel. He was thus at the cusp between two eras. According to the text of the Books of Samuel, he also anointed the first two kings of the Kingdom of Israel: Saul and David.

Biblical account[link]

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Hannah presenting her son Samuel to the priest Eli ca.1665

Family[link]

Samuel's mother was Hannah and his father was Elkanah. Hannah, at the beginning of the narrative, is barren and childless, like Abraham's wife Sarah. Hannah prays to God for a child. Eli who is sitting at the foot of the doorpost in the sanctuary at Shiloh, sees her apparently mumbling and thinks Hannah is drunk, but is soon assured of her motivation and sobriety. Eli was, according to the Books of Samuel, the name of a priest of Shiloh, and one of the last Israelite Judges before the rule of kings in ancient Israel. He blesses her after she promises the child to God. Subsequently Hannah becomes pregnant; her child is Samuel. After he is weaned, she leaves him in Eli's care.

Elkanah is Samuel's father and lives at Ramah (1 Sam. 1:19; 2:11; comp. 28:3), in the district of Zuph. His genealogy is also found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (1 Chron. 6:3-15) and in that of Heman, his great-grandson (ib. vi. 18-22). According to the genealogical tables, Elkanah was, a Levite, a fact otherwise not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elkanah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging to Judah (Judges 17:7, for example).^[3]

Name[link]

According to 1 Samuel 1:20, Hannah named Samuel in memory of her requesting a child from God and God listening. Samuel is translated as Heard of God or possibly as a sentence "God has heard" (from 'Shama', heard and 'El', God — with "Shama" as the verb and "El" as the subject).^[4] Samuel in the Hebrew root word is "sha’al" which is mentioned seven times in 1 Samuel 1 and once as "sha’ul" (1:28), which is Saul’s name in Hebrew. Coogan suggests that Saul’s birth narrative was transferred to Samuel by the Deuteronomistic Historians.^[5]

Calling[link]

One night, around the age of 13, Samuel heard a voice calling his name. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Samuel was about 12 years old.^[6] He initially assumed it was coming from Eli and went to Eli to ask what he wished to say. Eli, however, sent Samuel back to sleep. After this happened three times Eli realized that the voice was God's, and instructed Samuel on how to respond. Once Samuel responded God told him that the wickedness of the sons of Eli had resulted in their dynasty being condemned to destruction. Eli asked Samuel to honestly recount to him what he had been told, and upon receiving the communication merely said that God should do what seems right to himself.

Leader[link]

During Samuel's youth at Shiloh the Philistines inflicted a decisive defeat against the Israelites at Eben-Ezer (1 Sam. 4:1,2), placed the land under Philistine oppression, and took the sanctuary's Ark for themselves. (Some modern textual scholars consider that the Song of Moses, believed to be originally distinct from the surrounding text of Deuteronomy and not written by Moses, may in reality have been written in response to the theological implications of this disastrous defeat, possibly by Samuel himself.)^{[citation needed]}

This was decades before the Israelites began to be ruled by a king. After 20 years of such oppression, Samuel, who had gained national prominence as a prophet, summoned the people to Mizpah (one of the highest hills in the land), where he organized them into an army, and led them against the Philistines. The Philistines, having marched to Mizpah to attack the newly amassed Israelite army, were soundly defeated and fled in terror. The retreating Philistines were slaughtered by the Israelites, which the Bible portrays positively. The text then states that Samuel erected a large stone at the battle site as a memorial, and there ensued a long period of peace thereafter.

Textual criticism[link]

National prophet, local seer[link]

Some authors see the biblical Samuel as combining descriptions of two distinct roles:

• A seer, based at Ramah, and seemingly known scarcely beyond the immediate neighbourhood of Ramah (Saul, for example, not having heard of him, with his servant informing him of his existence instead). In this role, Samuel is associated with the bands of musical ecstatic roaming prophets (shouters - neb'im) at Gibeah, Bethel, and Gilgal, and some traditional scholars have argued that Samuel was the founder of these groups. At Ramah, Samuel secretly anoints Saul, after having met him for the first time, while Saul was looking for his father's lost donkeys, and treated him to a meal.
• A prophet, based at Shiloh, who went throughout the land, from place to place, with unwearied zeal, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting the people to repentance. In this role, Samuel acted as a (biblical) judge, publicly advising the nation, and also giving private advice to individuals. Eventually Samuel delegates this role to his sons, based at Beersheba, but they behave corruptly and so the people, facing invasion from the Ammonites, persuade Samuel to appoint a king. Samuel reluctantly does so, and anoints Saul in front of the entire nation, who had gathered to see him.

Textual scholars suggest that these two roles come from different sources, which later were spliced together to form the Book(s) of Samuel. The oldest is considered to be that which marks Samuel as the local seer of Ramah, who willingly anoints Saul as King in secret, while the latter is that which presents Samuel as a national figure, who begrudgingly anoints Saul as King in front of a national assembly. This later source is generally known as the republican source, since here, and elsewhere, it denigrates the actions and role of the monarchy (particularly those of Saul) and favours religious figures, in contrast to the other main source – the monarchial source – which treats the monarchy favourably. Theoretically if we had the monarchial source we would see Saul appointed king by public acclamation, due to his military victories, and not by cleromancy involving Samuel. Another difference between the sources is that the republican source treats the shouters as somewhat independent from Samuel (1 Samuel 9) rather than having been led by him (1 Samuel 19:18ff). The passage (1 Samuel 7:15-16) in which Samuel is described as having exercised the functions of a (biblical) judge, during an annual circuit from Ramah to Bethel to Gilgal (the Gilgal between Ebal and Gerizim) to Mizpah and back to Ramah, is thought by textual scholars to be a redaction aimed at harmonizing the two portrayals of Samuel.^[7]

The Book(s) of Samuel variously describe Samuel as having carried out sacrifices at sanctuaries, and having constructed and sanctified altars. According to the Mitzvot only Aaronic priests and/or Levites (depending on the Mitzvah) were permitted to perform these actions, and simply being a nazarite or prophet was insufficient. The books of Samuel and Kings offer numerous examples where this rule is not followed by kings and prophets, but some textual scholars look elsewhere seeking a harmonization of the issues. In the Book of Chronicles, Samuel is described as a Levite, rectifying this situation; however textual scholars widely see the Book of Chronicles as an attempt to redact the Book(s) of Samuel and of Kings to conform to later religious sensibilities. Since many of the Mitzvot themselves are thought to postdate the Book(s) of Samuel (according to the documentary hypothesis), Chronicles is probably making its claim based on religious bias. The Levitical genealogy of 1 Chronicles 4 is not historical, according to modern scholarship.^[7]

The Deuteronomistic Historians' Portrait of Samuel[link]

The Deuteronomistic Historians, who redacted the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings), idealized Samuel as a figure who is larger than life like Joshua. Samuel is a priest even though he is not of the tribe of Levi from his childhood. Samuel is a judge who leads the military like in the Book of Judges and also who exercises judicial functions. In 1 Sam 12:6-17, the Deuteronomic Historians composed a speech of Samuel that puts him as the judge sent by God to save Israel.^[8] In 1 Samuel 9:6-20, Samuel is seen as a local “seer.” The Deuteronomistic Historians preserved this view of Samuel while contributing him as “the first of prophets to articulate the failure of Israel to live up to its covenant with God.” ^[8] For the Deuteronomistic Historians, Samuel was extension of Moses and continuing Moses’ function as a prophet, judge, and a priest which made historical Samuel uncertain.^[8]

Samuel's retirement and death[link]

Apparition of the spirit of Samuel to Saul, by Salvator Rosa, 1668.

Samuel initially appointed his two sons as his successors; however, the Israelites rejected them and insisted on having a king rule over them. Samuel, who is opposed to a king, warns them of the potential negative consequences of such a decision, but at the people's insistence, asks God for a king. Samuel is told to seek out Saul, an animal herder said to be a head taller than his peers, and anoint him as the first King of Israel.

Just before his retirement, Samuel gathered the people to an assembly at Gilgal, and gives them a farewell speech, in which he emphasised how prophets and judges were more important than kings, how kings should be held to account, and how the people should not fall into idol worship, or worship of Asherah or of Baal; Samuel threatened that God would subject the people to foreign invaders should they disobey. This is seen by some people as a deuteronomic redaction;^[7] being that archaeologically sees that Asherah was still worshipped in Israelite households well into the 6th century. However, the Bible is clear in 1 Kings 11:5, 33, and 2 Kings 23:13 that the Israelites fell into Asherah worship later on.^[9]

Samuel then went into retirement, though he reappears briefly in the two accounts of why Saul's dynasty lost divine favour (parts of 1 Samuel 13 and 15), essentially acting, according to scholars, as the narrator's mouthpiece.^{[citation needed]} Apart from being the individual who anoints David as king, a role Samuel is abruptly summoned to take, he does not appear any further in the text until his own death at his hometown Ramah (1 Samuel 25:1, 28:3), where he is buried (cf. 2 Kings 21:18, 2 Chronicles 33:20, and John 19:41). According to classical rabbinical sources, this was at the age of fifty-two.

Samuel's death, however, is not completely the end of his appearance in the narrative. In the passage concerning Saul's visit to the Witch of Endor, ascribed by textual scholars to the republican source, Samuel was temporarily raised from the dead so that he can tell Saul his future. Many Christian interpretations of this event portray Samuel's appearance as being a deception from Satan, or even a demon in disguise. There are other interpretations which say that Saul and the witch having been frightened by his appearance, and Samuel as having been composed, classical rabbinical sources argue that Samuel was terrified by the ordeal, having expected to be appearing to face God's judgement, and had therefore brought Moses with him (to the land of the living) as a witness to his adherence to the mitzvot.^[7]

Perspectives on Samuel[link]

Judaism[link]

According to the Book of Jeremiah, and one of the Psalms (99), Samuel had a high devotion to God. Classical Rabbinical literature adds that he was more than an equal to Moses, God speaking directly to Samuel, rather than Samuel having to attend the tabernacle to hear God.^[10] Samuel is also described by the Rabbis as having been extremely intelligent; he argued that it was legitimate for laymen to slaughter sacrifices, since the Halakha only insisted that the priests bring the blood (cf Leviticus 1:5, Zebahim 32a).^[11] Eli, who was viewed negatively by many Classical Rabbis, is said to have reacted to this logic of Samuel by arguing that it was technically true, but Samuel should be put to death for making legal statements while Eli (his mentor) was present.^[11]

Samuel is also treated by the Classical Rabbis as a much more sympathetic character than he appears at face value in the Bible; his annual circuit is explained as being due to his wish to spare people the task of having to journey to him; Samuel is said to have been very rich, taking his entire household with him on the circuit so that he didn't need to impose himself on anyone's hospitality; when Saul fell out of God's favour, Samuel is described as having grieved copiously and having prematurely aged.^[12]

Christianity[link]

For Evangelical Christians Samuel is considered to be a Prophet, Judge, and wise Leader of Israel, and treated as an example of fulfilled commitments to God. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day is August 20. He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the commemoration of the departure of Samuel the Prophet is celebrated on 9 Paoni.

Islam[link]

Mosque of the Prophet Samuel, Jerusalem

Tomb of the Prophet Samuel, Jerusalem

Samuel is also a revered prophet^[13] and seer in the Islamic faith. The narrative of Samuel in Muslim literature focuses specifically on his birth and the anointing of Saul. Other elements from his narrative are in accordance with the narratives of other prophets of Israel, as exegesis recounts Samuel's preaching against idolatry. Although he is mentioned in the Qur'an, his name is not given but he is instead referred to as "a Prophet".^[14] According to Islamic history, the Israelites, after the time of the prophet Moses, wanted a king to rule over their country. Thus, God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king for the Israelites. The Qur'an states: