Esther Wanjiru Maina is a retired female long-distance runner from Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

.

She is from Kahuhia

Kahuhia

Kahuhia is a settlement in Kenya's Central Province....

, Murang'a District.

On January 15, 1999 she finished second at a half marathon

Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

 race in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. The race was won by Elana Meyer

Elana Meyer

Elana Meyer is a former long-distance runner from South Africa, who won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 metre event....

, who set a world record, while Wanjiru scored did also beat the previous world record by timing 1:06:49

She won the Sendai Half Marathon in 1998 and 1999, and finished second in 2000.

She finished third at the 2000 Osaka Ladies Marathon, setting her personal best of 2:23:31 hours.

Wanjiru became the first Kenyan woman to win Commonwealth Games gold medal, although Jackline Maranga

Jackline Maranga

Jackline Maranga is a retired Kenyan middle distance runner. She won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships at the age of 15, and also won silver medals in the two following Championships, being the only athlete to do so.She is perhaps best known for winning the 1500 metres gold at the...

 won 1500 metres later at the same games.

Achievements

Representing
1998	Commonwealth Games 1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...	Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million... , Malaysia	1st	10,000 metres
1999	World Championships 1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....	Seville, Spain	11th	Marathon	2:29:36 1999 World Championships in Athletics - Women's Marathon The Women's Marathon event at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain was held on Sunday August 29, 1999.-Medalists:-Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-Records:-Intermediates:-Final ranking:...
2000	Osaka Ladies Marathon	Osaka, Japan	3rd	Marathon	2:23:31
	Olympic Games 2000 Summer Olympics The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...	Sydney, Australia	4th	Marathon	2:26:17

She also competed in the marathon at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
She pulled out of the race whilst leading.