Lee Joseph Troop is an Olympic marathon runner from Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Education
He made his Olympic debut in the 2000 Olympic marathon race in Australia but finished in 66th place after an injury. Further injuries interrupted his next two seasons, but he returned and finished in 17th in the marathon at the 2003 World Championships and 27th at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but despite his aim of making the top-ten, he finished in 60th place.
Career
He broke the Australian record in the 5000 m in 1999 and changed to the marathon distance in 2000. He became involved in athletics at the age of 11 when he joined his father"s weight loss campaign by taking training runs around the Geelong suburb of Whittington. He joined Athletics Chilwell (formerly Chilwell Athletic Club) in 1986 and has competed for the club ever since.
During a brief stint in the 1990s Lee competed on a second-claim basis for the cross country team from Ballarat Harriers in the Athletics Victoria winter competition series.
He competed in the 5000 m at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics but did not progress beyond the heats. He broke Ron Clarke"s 33-year-old national record in the 5000 m in 1999 but he decided to focus on marathon running in the lead-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. however, after qualifying he tore a stomach muscle and struggled to finish in 66th place.
Foreign the next two years, Troop was troubled by a series of injuries but bounced back in 2003, enjoying his best ever form. He ran a personal best of 2:09:49 at Lake Biwa Marathon, and finished 17th at the World Championships in Paris.
He placed 27th at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in the marathon with a time of 2:18.46.
He broke down shortly after with a stress fracture of the pelvis. In October 2007, Troop ran 2:10:31 at the Berlin Marathon – an Olympic A-grade qualifying time. In May 2008, Troop was the only nomination for the Australian Men"s team in the marathon for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In the 2008 Olympic marathon race he finished 60th in a time of 2:27:17.
In October 2008, Lee announced that it was likely that he and his family would make a move to the United States no earlier than March 2009 with a desire to run in the Boston and New York Marathons. In 2008, he finished fourth in the Melbourne Half Marathon and took part in the Shanghai Marathon.
Lee began coaching in Boulder in 2011 and now is responsible for elite runners like
Sean Quigley
Laura Thweatt
Matt Tebo.