Samuel Wanjiru

Wanjiru learned his racing in Japan, where as a teenager he set a world junior 10,000m record of 26:41.75 in 2005. He moved to the roads almost immediately, breaking the half-marathon world record, then won the Beijing 2008 Olympic marathon by running the hot early miles at a pace that broke everyone else, a tactic championship marathons had rarely seen. London and two Chicago wins followed before his death in 2011, aged 24.