Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi to receive IAAF Golden Order of Merit from IAAF President Lamine Diack
23 February 2001 - Monte-Carlo - The President of the IAAF, Lamine Diack, is to attend the Nairobi International Cross Country tomorrow. This competition is of particular importance as it also serves as the selection trial for the Kenyan team for the 29th IAAF World Cross Country Championships, which will take place in Dublin on 24-25 March. Tomorrow’s programme comprises four races, two for men (senior 12km and junior 8 km) and two for women (senior 8 km and junior 6 km), over the same distances as the World Championships.
Tomorrow morning, President Diack is to present the IAAF Golden Order of Merit to the President of the Republic of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, in a ceremony at the State House. This prestigious award is only presented to heads of state and leading sports personalities in recognition of their great merit in promoting the sport of athletics.
For many years, Kenya has played a key role in the development of athletics in Africa and around the world and President Arap Moi has always been close to Kenya’s athletes, encouraging them and helping them achieve their exceptional results. The IAAF has for many years run a Regional Development Centre in Nairobi and recently opened a High Performance Centre in Eldoret, the capital of the Rift Valley made famous by the legendary Kip Keino back in the Sixties.
It is in collaboration with Kip Keino, who serves today as a member of the IOC and President of the Kenyan Olympic Committee, that the IAAF opened this latest training centre – where talented youngsters are trained by another Olympic Champion, the unforgettable 800m runner Paul Ereng – which President Diack will visit on Sunday.
The presence in Nairobi of many leading figures from the Athletics world was also the occasion for the traditional meeting between the President of the Kenyan Federation, Isaiah Kiplagat, the athlete’s representatives, the President of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and the IAAF Competitions Director, Sandro Giovanelli.
The meeting took place in a spirit of open and complete co-operation and set the guidelines for all of the parties for the management, preparation and participation in competition of the athletes, in order to guarantee the Kenyan squad the possibility to perform at their best in the upcoming major competitions, starting with the World Cross Country Championships and, more particularly, the World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton next August.
