Kipchoge Keino works get global recognition

Kipchoge Keino, the honorary International Olympic Committee (IOC) life committee member, is certainly a legendary athlete with a golden heart.

That was not unnoticed by global sports chiefs; all paying glowing tribute to his achievement in championing the core virtues of Olympic movement.

In 2010, former IOC President Jacques Rogge, described Kipchoge as “among the saints in sports world.”

On Sunday, IOC President Thomas Bach, who was visiting Kipkeino High School in Eldoret said: “Kipchoge was not only a sports hero but a hero of humanity.”

Kipchoge was Kenya’s first Olympic gold medalist, the first Kenyan to break 3,000m world record and a philanthropist with a big heart.

He controls and runs a charitable organisation for orphans, having built Kipkeino Primary School  and Kip Keino High School both in Eldoret. The IOC funded institution was commissioned by former IOC President Jacques Rogge.

honoured

Kipchoge Keino in Eldoret and the Bristol Academy of Sport in United Kingdom were named after him.

Bach, a German national, said IOC would support Kipkeino High School in providing water, solar technology for electricity and a new school bus.

“We take the school as a serious project and I will return, hopefully soon, to see how far the progress has gone. It is a shining example of how sport can be used to develop the youth. Keino is one of the greatest stars of Olympics movement,” he said.

Bach flew in from Botswana in a private jet after attending the closing ceremony of the second Africa Youth Championships. The IOC boss toured Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret to see the tarmac and tartan being laid for athletes.

“We will see what we can do to make the rest of the facility become world class,” he said.