Sports Cabinet Secretary (CS) Amina Mohamed has congratulated legendary athlete and president of the National Olympics Committee of Kenya Paul Tergat on his induction into the Van Damme Memorial race Hall of Fame in Belgium.
CS Amina also took the opportunity to congratulate former 5000 m World Champion Daniel Komen who was also inducted alongside Tergat.
In her message, CS Amina hailed the induction as a monumental fete that reaffirms Kenya’s position as an athletics powerhouse
She thanked the organisers for the recognition bestowed on two of Kenya’s legendary athletes.
The legendary Tergat was last night inducted into the Van Damme Memorial Hall of Fame for his outstanding performances in Belgium during his career days as a celebrated athlete.
Tergat who is the president of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) took part in the Memorial race seven times and won three times.
Back in 1997 Tergat set a new world record in the 10,000 meters in the King Baudouin Stadium and would go on to triumph over the distance in 1998 and 200 in Brussels.
The 53-year-old became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04.55, and is still regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time.
The two times world silver medallist was inducted together with one of the finest 3000 m runners the world has ever produced Daniel Komen, as he still holds the world record for the 3000 m both outdoors (7:20.67 set in 1996) and indoors (7:24.90 set in 1998)
Tergat participated in the Memorial races eleven times and took the honours four times.
During the same year, the legendary Tergat set the world record in 5000 m, and the same year that he also became world champion over the distance.
He is also the only man in history to run back-to-back sub-four-minute miles, splitting circa 3:59.4 on both the first and second half of the race.