President Uhuru congratulates Eliud Kipchoge for winning Best Male Athlete award

President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulates Eliud Kipchoge after he awarded him state honour during the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Mombasa [Charles Kimani, DPPS]

President Uhuru Kenyatta has congratulated world-marathon record-holder Eliud Kipchoge for winning the 2021 Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Award for the Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics.

36-year-old Kipchoge received the prestigious award on Sunday evening, at the sidelines of the Annual General Assembly underway in Crete, Greece.

He was awarded for his marathon gold medal at the postponed Summer Games that were held in Tokyo, Japan July-August 2021.

“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,” said State House Kenya in a tweet. 

Kipchoge defended his Olympic marathon gold medal having won the same in Rio 2016 Olympics.

"When you win two Olympic gold medals back-to-back, its making history because only three people have done it, I am happy to have done that in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," he said while receiving the award.

Eliud was awarded by the president of the Association of National Olympics Committee of Africa, Mr. Mustapha Berraf at the Open Air Theatre of the Creta Maris Beach Hotel.

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

2021 Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Award for the Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics [ANOC:Twitter]

The other awardees were:

Best Female Athlete of Tokyo 2020 – Canadian Maggie Mac Neil

Outstanding Athlete Performance – Cuban Mijain Lopez

Best Male Team at Tokyo 2020 – Japan National Baseball Team

Best Feale Team at Tokyo 2020 – New Zealand Rugby Team

Best Male Multiple Athlete Event of Tokyo 2020 – Italy Cycling Track Pursuit Team

Best Female Multiple Athlete Event of Tokyo 2020 – Estonia Fencing Epee Team

The awards were organized by ANOC to celebrate the achievements of athletes at the Tokyo Games.

Kipchoge earns Male Athlete of the Year nomination:

Earlier in the week, World Athletics nominated Kipchoge among the 10 nominees for the Male Athlete of the Year.

Kipchoge champion stormed to gold after winning the Olympic men's marathon in two hours, eight minutes and 38 seconds, giving Kenya a total of four gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 36-year-old marathoner has won two consecutive Olympic Gold medals in the Men's Marathon after winning the 2016 race in two hours, eight minutes and 44 seconds.

The nominees for 2021 Male World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):

Joshua Cheptegei, UGA
- Olympic 5000m champion
- Olympic 10,000m silver medallist
- World-leading 8:09.55 for two miles

Ryan Crouser, USA
- Olympic and Diamond League shot put champion
- Undefeated all year
- World shot put records indoors and outdoors

Mondo Duplantis, SWE
- Olympic pole vault champion
- Diamond League pole vault champion
- European indoor pole vault champion

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, NOR
- Olympic 1500m champion
- European indoor 1500m champion
- European 1500m and 5000m records

Pedro Pichardo, POR
- Olympic triple jump champion
- Diamond League triple jump champion
- European indoor triple jump champion

Daniel Stahl, SWE
- Olympic discus champion
- Diamond League discus champion
- Threw world-leading 71.40m

Miltiadis Tentoglou, GRE
- Olympic long jump champion
- European indoor long jump champion
- Jumped world-leading 8.60m

Damian Warner, CAN
- Olympic decathlon champion
- Winner at the Götzis Hypo Meeting
- National and Olympic record of 9018, moved to fourth on the world all-time list

Karsten Warholm, NOR
- Olympic 400m hurdles champion 
- Diamond League 400m hurdles champion
- World 400m hurdles record and world 300m hurdles best