President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated the two times Olympic marathon Champion Eliud Kipchoge for winning the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Award for the Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics.
In a press statement released through the state house social media platform, Uhuru said the award by ANOC is a global recognition of Kenya’s prominence as a sporting nation.
1/2 His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated Kenyan marathoner @EliudKipchoge for winning the 2021 ANOC Award for the Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics. @ANOC_Olympic pic.twitter.com/mFtqwctGn9
— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) October 25, 2021
The marathon world record holder was nominated for the award alongside nine other athletes that included Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei who finally won two gold medals in 5000m and 10,000m at Tokyo Olympics games in August.
Kipchoge in his acceptance speech said, “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.”
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! pic.twitter.com/SQ8upHnVes
— Eliud Kipchoge – EGH🇰🇪 (@EliudKipchoge) October 24, 2021
Kipchoge joined two legends who have won an Olympic medal two times. Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila was the first person to win two times the Olympic marathon medal when he won his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot then in 1964 he won his second gold medal.
East German Waldemar Cierpinski, won at the Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980.
Kipchoge’s margin of victory of 80 seconds was the biggest in an Olympic marathon since Frank Shorter’s win at Munich 1972.
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