Yiannis Kouros (Greek: Î"ιάννης ΚοÏÏος; born February 13, 1956 in Tripoli, Greece) is a Greek ultramarathon runner based in Melbourne. He is sometimes called the "Running God" or "Pheidippides' Successor". He holds many men's outdoor road world records from 100 to 1,000 miles and many road and track records from 12 hours to 6 days. In 1991, he starred as Pheidippides in the movie The Story of the Marathon: A Hero's Journey, which chronicles the history of marathon running.
Kouros came to prominence when he won the Spartathlon in 1984 in record time and the Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon in 1985 in a record time of 5 days, 5 hours, 7 minutes and 6 seconds. He beat the previous record held by Cliff Young.
Kouros says that his secret is that "when other people get tired, they stop. I don't. I take over my body with my mind. I tell it that it's not tired and it listens."
Kouros has also written over 1,000 poems (several of which appear in his book Symblegmata (Clusters)) and the book The Six-Day Run of the Century.
World records
Yiannis Kouros - Forever Running (English subtitles) - Written and directed by Elias Giannakakis (2004). Finally the version with English subtitles! Yiannis Kouros has been a somehow neglected figure in the recent ...
According to the International Association of Ultrarunners, as of February 2013.
Distance
Time races
See also
- Multiday races
- Ultramarathon
References
External links
- Yiannis Kouros official page
- Yiannis Kouros official page
