Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (born September 11, 1983 in Keiyo District) is an athlete from Kenya who specialises in long distance running. She represented Kenya at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Cheruiyot won a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and became the world champion in the event at the 2009 edition.

After taking a silver at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, she won a number of outdoor titles that year, becoming African champion, Commonwealth Games champion and IAAF Continental Cup champion, as well as winning the 2010 IAAF Diamond League title.

She holds the Kenyan record and Commonwealth record for the 5000 m with her best time of 14:20.89, which was set at the DN Galan in 2011.

Cheruiyot is trained by Ricky Simms. She was born near Keiyo in the Rift Valley Province, coming from the same village as another female runner Alice Timbilili.

Her breakthrough year came in 1999: at the age of fifteen she took the junior silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships behind Werknesh Kidane. At the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres. She earned a senior call-up for the 1999 All-Africa Games, where she managed a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She became the junior champion at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She gained selection for the 2000 Olympic Games and reached the 5000 m final after setting personal bests in the qualifying rounds. She was much slower in the final and was the last runner to finish.

Meseret Defar (Amharic: መሰረት ደፋር; born 19 November, 1983 in Addis Ababa) is a female long-distance runner from Ethiopia who competes chiefly in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and World Championship gold medals over 5000 metres. She broke the world record in the event in 2006, broke it again in 2007 and held it until 2008, when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time.

Defar has been successful in the 5000 m at the Olympic Games, taking gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics and bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She has experienced similar success in the World Championships, taking silver in 2005 Helsinki Championships and gold at the 2007 Osaka Championships.

Defar holds the indoor records for the 5000 metres, 3000 metres and two-mile run. She has dominated the 3000 m indoor event, winning the three consecutive gold medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Defar won the 5000 metres gold medal at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in 2003. She won gold in the women's 5000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a time of 14:45.65.

Sally Kipyego (born December 19, 1985 in Kapsowar, Marakwet District, Kenya) is a runner who competed as part of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cross country and track and field teams. She is the first Kenyan woman to win a NCAA cross country individual championship, the first woman to win three consecutive NCAA Division I Cross Country titles, and the first runner to win three consecutive Big 12 Conference cross country titles. She is tied with Suzy Favor-Hamilton for the most individual championships in NCAA history. Kipyego won more individual NCAA championships in 2 years than any other runner in NCAA history. Academically, Kipyego earned a nursing degree. She runs professionally on the International Association of Athletics Federations' ("IAAF") World Athletics Tour. She is sponsored by Nike, Inc.

Sally Kipyego's running career started in 2000 when she was 14. The following year, she represented Kenya as a junior at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing eighth. However, a stress fracture kept her off both the 2002 and 2003 teams before entering college in the United States.

Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (born 5 December 1989) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She won her first world title in the 10,000 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

Masai became the world junior cross country champion in 2007 and set a world junior record for the 10,000 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics, placing fourth in the final. She was the runner-up at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships three times consecutively from 2009 to 2011. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, she won her second world track medal, taking third in the 10,000 m.

Masai was born in Kapsokwony town, Mount Elgon District, and was raised in from Bugaa village, four kilometres away. Born to John Barasa Masai and Leonida Cherop, she is the fourth born out of ten children. She went to Kapsagom Primary School and then Bishop Okiring Secondary school from where she graduated in 2005. She started running in 2005, when her older brother Moses Ndiema Masai won 5000 and 10000 metres at the African Junior Championships, hoping she would emulate his success. Her younger siblings Dennis, Ndiema and Magdaline are also runners. Their father John Barasa Masai is also a former runner, while Ben Jipcho is their distant uncle. She is based at the PACE Sports Management training camp in Kaptagat.

Silvia Weissteiner (born 13 July 1979 in Sterzing, South Tyrol) is an Italian long-distance runner. She is a two-time national champion in the women's 5000 metres. She represented Italy at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009.

Weissteiner was the runner-up at the European Cup 10000m in 2006 behind Elvan Abeylegesse. She won her first major continental medal at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Her bronze medal performance with a run of 8:44.81 was a new Italian indoor record, marking an improvement of over twelve seconds for the distance.

She has enjoyed success at the Mediterranean Games, having won consecutive 5000 m bronze medals at the 2005 and 2009 editions. She won a 3000 m silver medal at the 2008 European Athletics Indoor Cup and took an outdoor silver over 5000 m at the 2009 European Team Championships. In 2011 she narrowly missed the 3000 m final at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, was fifth over the distance at the 2011 European Team Championships and was the Italian champion over 5000 m. She ran at the BOClassic New Year's Eve race in Bolzano and was the first European to cross the line, taking third behind Vivian Cheruiyot and Afera Godfay.