Nyayo National Stadium beehive of activity, top officials positive
Nairobi, Thursday
The Nyayo National Stadium, situated at the heart of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, is a beehive of activity ahead of the 2020 World Athletics Continental Tour on Saturday.
Several athletes have already landed in Kenya ready for the showdown with Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei saying they are ready to receive the world.
“Sport brings us together as a global family. And yes, I can say Nairobi is ready to receive athletes from around the world.
“The Covid-19 pandemic may have and still continues to wreak havoc, but it will not break our spirit as human beings,” Tuwei said at Nyayo National Stadium on Thursday where he was at hand to witness the progress on preparation.
Kenya’s Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Sports Joe Okudo was also on hand to ensure the newly-refurbished stadium is in good shape to deliver a memorable World Athletics Continental Tour event.
“It is always our pleasure to welcome the world to Kenya. As an athletics powerhouse we are always there to ensure we share with the rest of the world the good tiding sports brings to humanity,” Okudo said.
What you need to know about 2020 World Athletics Continental Tour:
- The inaugural 2020 World Athletics Continental Tour is an annual one-day event run across 10 cities in the world. It is divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze labels. The Gold label is World Athletics’ second-tier event below the Diamond League.
- The ten (10) designated cities to host the Gold tour are; Tokyo (Japan), Nanjing (China), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Hengelo (The Netherlands), Turku (Finland), Kingston (Jamaica), Szekesfehervar (Hungary), Silesia (Poland), Zagreb (Croatia) and Nairobi (Kenya).
- World Athletics Continental Tour has five (5) core events: 200m, 3000m steeplechase, discus, hammer and triple jump which were cut off from the top-tier IAAF Diamond League and other ‘discretionary disciplines’.
- Each gold event will award $200,000 in prize money. There will be $20,000 to be won in each core discipline. The winner takes home $6,000 and the lowest $800 in the core disciplines.
- Besides the prize money for the 1st to 8th ranked athletes in the core disciplines, ranking points are also on offer.
- The best athletes in the core events will get Wildcard entries to the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2021
What you need to know about the Kip Keino Classic:
- Officially named Kip Keino Classic after athletics icon Kipchoge Keino;
- The Nairobi edition was initially supposed to be staged on May 2, but World Athletics delayed the race to October 3 as the world grapples with the ravages of COVID-19 pandemic.
- Kip Keino Classic will be staged at the 35,000-seater Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday October 3.
- Kip Keino Classic enjoys a Gold label status and will have 200m sprint, 3000m steeplechase, triple jump, discus throw and hammer throw as the core disciplines;
- Discretionary events include Javelin and High Jump;
- Athletics Kenya National events will run concurrently with the World Athletics Continental Tour
What World Athletics President Sebastian Coe says about the Continental Tour:
“We are kick starting our campaign to build more quality one-day meetings around the world with the new Continental Tour, which will give more athletes more opportunities to compete across all disciplines, to earn prize money and world rankings points and to build their profiles,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe says.
“Between the Diamond League and the Continental Tour, all disciplines will be catered for and many more athletes will have access to top-class competition. Those that have not been included in the Diamond League final next year will be core disciplines on the Continental Tour.”
Who is Kipchoge Keino?
- Keino won 1,500 metres gold at the Mexico 1968 Olympic Games;
- Won the 3,000m steeplechase at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games;
- He also won two Olympic silver medals, three Commonwealth Games gold medals and two African Games titles in his career;
- Keino was among the first athletes inducted into the World Athletics Hall of Fame;
- The 80-year-old was awarded the Olympic Laurel at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony for his service to the Olympic movement;
- He served as the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) until 2017
By Organisers
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