Records

Originally from Kenya, Wilson travelled to Denmark in 1990 to study electrical engineering, fell in love with the country and eventually applied for citizenship. He competed for his adopted nation at the 1995 World Championships, claiming his first title in the 800m.

Undefeated throughout 1996, he broke the world indoor record twice in the first half of 1997 before equalling Sebastian Coe’s outdoor world record in Stockholm. A month later, at the Weltklasse Grand Prix in Zurich, Kipketer beat it with a time of 1:41.24. 

But he wasn’t finished. Eleven days later he clocked 1:41.11 in Cologne.

Although he never won Olympic gold — unable to compete at Atlanta in 1996 because he was not yet a full citizen of Denmark, he took silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004 — he did win gold at three consecutive World Championships, and has run eight of the 11 fastest-ever 800m.

A late bloomer, Czechoslovakia's Jarmila Kratochvilova was better known as a 400m runner having won silver in that event at the 1980 Olympics. She entered this one-off 800m in Munich purely as a training exercise in the run-up to the World Championships — and promptly set a new world record: 1:53.28. She then went to those inaugural World Championships in Helsinki and left with golds from the 400m and 800m.

Her rapid rise, coupled with her muscular, almost masculine physique led to speculation about doping and some questioning of the validity of her record. But, as of now, it still stands.