Last week, Lonah Korlima Chemtai Salpeter made history by becoming the first Israeli to win a gold medal in the European Athletics Championships. Her turn on the podium came as a result of winning the women’s 10,000-meter run, which took place in Berlin on August 8.
She finished the race in 31:43:29, nine second ahead of second-place winner Susan Krumins of The Netherlands.
“This is really an honor to my country, an honor to my family and an honor for myself for the work that I’m doing,” Salpeter said.
Salpeter, who will be 30 in December, was born in Kenya and came to Tel Aviv in 2008 to work at the Kenyan Embassy. A running coach saw her run in a park and encouraged her to train professionally. In 2014 she married another Israeli running coach, Dan Salpeter, and got Israeli citizenship in 2016. That same year, she placed first among women in the Tel Aviv Marathon and was part of Israel’s Olympic delegation to Rio.
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