The National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) hosted a gala dinner in Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County, where elite Kenyan athletes joined them.
Kenya collected 21 medals (six gold, five silver and 10 bronze) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, finishing 13th overall and third in Africa.
The outgoing sports cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed during the event said the department was prioritizing key components in international events to ensure there is seamless and timely delivery.
“It is now part of our sports policy that key components of an international event are operationalized to ensure seamless delivery of such events. Such components include the timely establishment of relevant committees, structured work plans and budgets, visa processing, funding, kitting, air tickets, insurance, and allowances,” Amina said.
Calls for clean sport dominated the speeches at the gala dinner, with speakers putting emphasis on the use of doping agents which tainted the country’s image in every international championship.
The NOC-K president Paul Tergat advised athletes against use of banned doping substances.
“The list of athletes being banned is getting long and we are on a dangerous path now and this might cause us as a country to be sanctioned. I want to ask athletes to practice clean sport and avoid shortcuts. We have to protect our dignity that our founding fathers like Kipchoge Keino initiated when they competed for many years practicing clean sport,” said Tergat.
The athletes received awards and praises congratulating them for their exemplary performance at the Olympics.
Chepkoech received an outstanding award for running a new record of 9:15:19 while Ferdinand Omanyala was also awarded for bringing home the 100m gold medal after 60 years.
Omanyala during his speech said he was taking a break before starting the new season.
Gold medallists received Sh350,000 with silver medallists getting Sh200,000 while bronze medallists pocketed Sh100,000.
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