Stephen Kiprotich rewarded by Ugandan President Museveni, from AllAfrica.com, note by Larry Eder

Stephen Kiprotich, photo by PhotoRun.net

Anyone who viewed Stephen Kiprotich’s masterful victory in hot and humid Moscow, Russia last week in the World Championship marathon knows that they saw a champion. Kiprotich surprised many with his victory in Moscow, as well his victory last August 2012, when he won the London Olympic marathon.

But, how does Uganda receive their current gold medalist? Well, last year, Uganda’s President Museveni rewarded Stephen with a new home, that he gave to his parents. This year, President Museveni gave the gold medalist a brand new Mitsubishi auto, sH10,000 (Uganda schillings, worth about $4000), and a new house built just for Stephen Kiprotich.

The Ugandan President also promised the Ugandan Athletic Federation the funding needed for a new training centre, and the money needed to sponsor the All-Africa Cross Country championships in 2014. The sponsorship funds needed to sponsor All-Africa Cross Country will be approximately $100k US or sH350k.

Stephen Kiprotich’s victories have many benefits for Uganda, including highlighting the country as a site for travel as well. The Uganda Tourist Board is seeking additional promotion dollars because of Stephen Kiprotich’s victory and the potential interest in visiting Uganda.

The article compared Kiprotich’s benefits to John Aki-Bua’s brilliant 1972 gold medal in the 400m hurdles, as both have promoted Uganda. President Museveni also praised Kiprotich and Aki-Bua in their promotions of their country.

Per an article on AllAfrica.com,

http://allafrica.com/stories/201308250007.html?page=2

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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