President William Ruto has renamed Kericho Green Stadium to Wilson Kiprugut Chumo in honor of the pioneer athlete who won Kenya’s first ever Olympic medal.
Speaking while leading the nation in marking this year’s Mashujaa Day at the same venue President Ruto said the move was to honor Chumo who passed on in November 2022 aged 84 and was Kenya’s first medalist at the Olympics when he won a bronze medal over the 800m distance at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo,Japan.
‘Allow me to celebrate Kiprugut Chumo, the first Kenyan to win an Olympic medal, by renaming the Kericho Green Stadium after him’’, The president remarked.
Kiprugut picked up athletics as a young boy while growing up in Kapchebor Village in Ainamoi Constituency,Kericho going on to participate in his first race when he ran at the 1958 East African Athletics Championship. He went to Kaptebeswet Primary School and Sitotwet Intermediate School in the 1950s.
He was later on recruited into the army by KDF and went to compete in his first overseas championship at the 1962 Commonwealth Games .
Kiprugut went to win the African title over the 800 and 400m race twice and was also a silver winner at the 1968 Olympic Games.
