to win the race, and was temporarily disqualified, making Chelimo the temporary Olympic champion. However, the Moroccans appealed against the disqualification and Skah was reinstated the next morning because the rule under which he was disqualified did not define a penalty. In 1993 Chelimo broke the world junior and senior 10,000 m world record, in a time of 27:07.91 minutes, in Stockholm. He was to hold the senior world record for only five days before it was broken again by his compatriot Yobes Ondieki. He held the junior record for over 11 years before it was broken by Ugandan Boniface Kiprop Toroitich at a Golden League meeting on 3 September 2004, in a time of 27 min 04.00 s. At the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Chelimo once again failed to win gold at a major championships. He managed only third place as he could not match the pace of Tanui and, a new star from Ethiopia, Haile Gebrselassie. This was another controversial race as Tanui lost a shoe after Gebreselassie stepped on his heel; the Ethiopian went on to win the race. Life after athletics Chelimo retired from athletics in 1996; according to his cousin, Kiptanui, he retired after growing despondent following his failure to rise to the very top of the sport. He returned to his old job in the army and put on a lot of weight and began to drink excessively — a decline quite similar to that of Henry Rono. However, his friends Tanui and William Mutwol encouraged him to return to training and get back into shape. Chelimo eventually got back down to within 5 kg of his racing weight. He died of a brain tumour at the age of 29. See also List of notable brain tumor patients References New York Times Obituary Sports Reference 1972 births 2001 deaths People from Elgeyo-Marakwet County Kenyan male long-distance runners Kenyan male steeplechase runners Kenyan male cross country runners Olympic male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Kenya Olympic silver medalists for Kenya Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Kenya World record setters in athletics (track and field) Deaths from brain cancer in Kenya