President Uhuru congratulates Kipchoge for winning best male athlete award
His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge for winning the best male athlete of the Tokyo Olympics by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).
The President said the prestigious ANOC Award is a global recognition of Kenya’s prominence as a sporting nation, and advised upcoming athletes to emulate Eliud’s determination, humility, hard work and patriotism as they build their careers.
Kipchoge was feted at the ANOC awards gala held Sunday in Greece at the sidelines of the ANOC General Assembly.
“It is an honour to win the ANOC Award for the Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics. With so many beautiful performances by so many athletes, I am proud to be the recipient of this award. Thank you all for your great support,” he said.
“The Tokyo 2020 Games was important Olympics ever because it brought hope to the whole world after the Covid-19 crashed the whole world. I enjoyed the track and field for 10 years, and it is good I made a huge transfer to the road and make a huge mark and inspire the whole world to love the sport and spread positivity.”
He was awarded by the president of the Association of National Olympics Committee of Africa, Mustapha Berraf at the Open Air Theatre of the Creta Maris Beach Hotel.
Kipchoge, the World Marathon Record Holder, made history in Tokyo in August by becoming only the third man to win back-to-back Olympics Marathon gold after Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila and Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski.
Kipchoge was nominated for the awards alongside Karsten Warholm, Damian Warner, Miltiadis Tentoglou, Daniel Stahl, Pedro Pichardo, Ryan Crouser, Joshua Cheptegei, Mondo Duplantis and Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Kenya was the best ranked African country at the international sporting event, garnering four Gold, as many Silver and two bronze medals.
The awards were organized by ANOC to celebrate the achievements of athletes at the Tokyo Games.
