Double Olympic Games champion, the legendary Kipchoge Keino has donated his Olympic Laurel award to a school named after him in Uasin Gishu County.
The former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) president, who became the first-ever recipient of the award in 2016, donated it to Kip Keino High School as a way of motivating students and encouraging the young people from the region to take up sports as a way of life.
The Olympic Laurel is a distinction awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to honour those who have "made significant achievements in education, culture, development and peace through sport".
“This donation is meant to serve as motivation to upcoming athletes and encouragement to the most unfortunate in the society. It is also a way of showing humility to the community that I grew up in,” said Keino.
He said the prestigious trophy will serve as a monument of progress to upcoming talents in Kenya and other parts of the world too.
“This is the most precious gift I have received during my athletics career and being the only one who has ever received. I would like to set an example for upcoming athletes. I want to urge them to be disciplined and work hard and respect athletics as a profession,” explained Keino during the handover ceremony at the school.
At the same, he urged the government to build more sports centres and equip them to grow sports by providing a conducive environment for training.
In addition to providing learning opportunities for bright students from impoverished families, Kip Keino High School is also a talent development centre.
Kip0choge is the founder of the institution which currently hosts more than 100 Kenyan orphans in addition to offering more than 500 children aged between 6 and 13 a chance to get an education.
It is also a High-Performance Training Centre, welcoming the most promising athletes in Kenya.