NOCK Chief Tergat Ascends To Dakar 2022 Youth Olympics Coordinating Body
10th October 2018
Kenyan distance running legend in six-member body charged with delivering the first Olympic event in Africa
- The appointment was contained in a letter addressed to the former world marathon record holder and five-time IAAF World Cross Country Championships winner by International Olympics Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Wednesday (October 10)
- Tergat, the two-time Olympic 10,000m silver medallist is part of a six-member commission chaired by the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe and former swimming world record holder, Kirsty Coventry
- IOC’s appointment of Tergat is further evidence of the growing prominence the Kenyan who was hailed as the ‘Gentleman of Athletics’ in his pomp is commanding as he makes the step up from an enviable running career into an administrator in sport having gifted the world iconic moments in athletics
ELDORET, Kenya- National Olympics Committee-Kenya (NOCK) President and retired distance running legend, Paul Tergat, has been appointed as a member of the Coordination Commission for the Summer Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022.
The appointment was contained in a letter addressed to the former world marathon record holder and five-time IAAF World Cross Country Championships winner by International Olympics Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Wednesday (October 10).
Tergat, the two-time Olympic 10,000m silver medallist is part of a six-member commission chaired by the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe and former swimming world record holder, Kirsty Coventry.
"I’m very honoured to be nominated to this Coordination Commission by the IOC President. It is an honour I share with my fellow countrymen and women in Kenya.
“As a Coordination Commission, we have the singular task of delivering the first ever Olympic event in the African continent,” Tergat, an IOC member, remarked upon the confirmation of his nomination from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“Olympic events are epic and class in every way. I, together with the Team and LOC will give our best to make Africa proud of a great legacy Youth Olympics 2022 event,” the sporting icon who was elected NOCK president in September last year added.
Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco), Lingwei Li (China), Gunilla Lindberg (Sweden), Leandro Larrosa (Argentina) and Andrew Ryan (Great Britain), all senior figures in the global Olympic movement, are other members of the Dakar 2022 Coordination Commission.
Growing prominence
For the first time in history, an Olympic event will be held in Africa following Monday’s vote by the IOC to officially award the 2022 Youth Olympic Games to Dakar, Senegal.
The full IOC membership rubber-stamped an Executive Board decision made in September that the bid from Dakar would be the only project moved forward from among proposals by Gaborone in Botswana, Abuja in Nigeria and three sites including capital Tunis in Tunisia.
IOC’s appointment of Tergat is further evidence of the growing prominence the Kenyan who was hailed as the ‘Gentleman of Athletics’ in his pomp is commanding as he makes the step up from an enviable running career into an administrator in sport having gifted the world iconic moments in athletics.
Africa had remained the only continent never to host an Olympic-branded event after South America joined the other continents with Rio de Janeiro staging the 2016 Olympic Games, and the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) opening in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Only one other Kenyan has ever sat in an Olympic coordinating committee, Tergat's predecessor as NOCK chief and revered distance running great, Dr. Kipchoge Keino.