Education
Ondieki attended Iowa State University where he captured four Big Eight conference titles, three of them in cross country.
long-distance runner athletics competitor
Ondieki attended Iowa State University where he captured four Big Eight conference titles, three of them in cross country.
In the same year he set a temporary Kenyan 5000 m record of 13:01.82 in Zurich. Ondieki received All-America accolades six times at Iowa State. Ondieki was known for his demanding training sessions and his ability to run constantly at a high pace.
However, he lacked a finishing kick, a weakness exploited by his opponents in the 1992 Olympic 5,000 m final in Barcelona.
In 1993, Ondieki became the first athlete to break the 27-minute-barrier over 10,000 meters when he ran 26:58.38 at the Bislett Games in Oslo on July 10. His time broke the mark set by Richard Chelimo only five days earlier in Stockholm by over 9 seconds.
From 1989 - 1993, Ondieki was ranked in the top 5 in the world in the 5,000 meters by Track & Field News, with his number one ranking coming in 1991. In 1993, Track & Field News ranked him number one in the world in the 10,000 meters.
Ondieki married Lisa Martin, an Australian marathon runner.
In 1990 they had a baby girl named Emma Ondieki. Today, Ondieki and Martin are divorced. In September 1991 both he and Martin attended the 1991 American Federation of Labor-Congress Grand Final as a part of the prematch entertainment.
The vision of Ondieki laughing uncontrollably at the antics of Angry Anderson has been used in a recent advertisement for Carlton Draught.