Gidamis Shahanga (born September 4, 1957, in Katesh, Hanang District in Manyara Region), is a retired Tanzanian long-distance runner who specialized in the 10,000 metres and the marathon race. His personal best at the marathon was 2:08:32 at the 1990 Berlin Marathon.
Shahanga was an All-American runner for the UTEP Miners track and field team, contributing to their cross country team as well. In May 1983, he set an unofficial 34:13 world record over the road 12 kilometres distance in Portland, Oregon. He thought the race distance would be only 10 kilometres until getting on the bus to the competition. In an attempt on the marathon world record, Shahanga won the 1984 Rotterdam Marathon in a time of 2:11:12 hours. He won the February 1984 Los Angeles International Marathon on the same course as the Olympic marathon he ran later that year.
Gidamis is the brother of fellow UTEP Miners runner Alfredo Shahanga.
Achievements Representing 1978Commonwealth Games Edmonton, Canada 1stMarathon2:15:40 1979African Championships Dakar, Senegal 2ndMarathon2:36:461980Olympic Games Moscow, Soviet Union15thMarathon2:16:47 1982Commonwealth Games Brisbane, Australia 1st10,000 m28:10.15 6thMarathon2:14:25 1983World Championships Helsinki, Finland5th10,000 m28:01.93New York City MarathonNew York City, United States6thMarathon2:11:051984Los Angeles MarathonLos Angeles, United States1stMarathon2:10:19Rotterdam MarathonRotterdam, Netherlands 1stMarathon2:11:12Olympic Games Los Angeles, United States22ndMarathon2:16:27 1986Los Angeles MarathonLos Angeles, United States2ndMarathon2:13:27Hamburg MarathonHamburg, Germany2ndMarathon2:14:07Beijing MarathonBeijing, China4thMarathon2:09:391988Boston MarathonBoston, United States21stMarathon2:17:33East and Central African ChampionshipsNairobi, Kenya 1st10,000 m29:17.3New York City MarathonNew York City, United States4thMarathon2:13:50Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, United States3rdMarathon2:16:471989Los Angeles MarathonLos Angeles, United States4thMarathon2:15:32Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, United States3rdMarathon2:14:051990Vienna Marathon Vienna, Austria 1stMarathon2:09:28Berlin MarathonBerlin, Germany2ndMarathon2:08:321993Munich MarathonMunich, Germany1stMarathon2:14:28Berlin MarathonBerlin, Germany9thMarathon2:14:341994Munich MarathonMunich, Germany1stMarathon2:17:27Hannover MarathonHannover, Germany3rdMarathon2:15:11
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