Eliud Kipchoge’s advice to refugee athletics team in Kapsabet
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Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 17.10.24. | 22:00
During his visit, the legendary marathoner interacted with the athletes and delivered a powerful message of encouragement and resilience
On Sunday 13 October, double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge visited the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team that is under the tutelage of 2007 World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei.
During his visit, the legendary marathoner interacted with the athletes and delivered a powerful message of encouragement and resilience.
He started by emphasizing that everyone, regardless of their background deserved equal respect as a human being and an athlete, urging them that being a refugee should not limit their potential.
“I came here to tell you that being a refugee is not the end of life. It is the beginning of life because as a refugee you have a lot of fruits hanging in this world,” he offered as per World Athletics.
The luminary athlete went on to underscore the significance of recognition of the Athlete Refugee Team, which has gained attention on the global stage.
“The whole world has recognized you as a country, are you happy? Being recognized means you are the best. Have faith in yourself, in your school, and in your coaches. Have respect,” he continued.
Kipchoge resonated with the unique challenges these athletes have faced, urging them to make the most of their resilience to thrive in the athletics world.
“They are hard to mould because they have passed through a hard life, but all in all, they are easy to mould because they understand tough life more than anybody else,” he averred.
Sharing his journey of perseverance, Kipchoge emphasized the importance of overcoming hardships to achieve success. He believes that his past challenges will serve as lighthouses for the upcoming generation.
“The moment you perform, you have gone through challenges people do not know. I have been through a lot, but I keep pushing.
You have to experience pain and frustrations so that you know how to handle success when it lands on you,” he said.
Kipchoge encouraged the athletes to focus on self-improvement, urging them to compete against themselves rather than others.
“Treat yourself as the best one. At the start, tell yourself you have trained better than everybody else, and during exams tell yourself that you have studied more than everybody else. Compete with yourself,” he offered.
The World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART), composed of athletes who have fled violence, conflict, and injustice at home, was founded in 2016 and has since evolved into the world's only year-round full-time refugee team program.
The team made its first competitive appearance as part of the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a debut that became a source of inspiration for tens of millions of displaced persons from around the world and whose stories resonated with millions more.
Through its Athletics for a Better World Programme, World Athletics decided to continue building upon that foundation by creating a more structured approach to eventually build what is now considered an actual team – albeit one whose athletes are currently spread across half a dozen countries.
Since that debut in Rio, the Athlete Refugee Team has competed at nearly every World Athletics Series event: the 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023 World Championships, the 2017 World U19 Championships, the 2018 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championships, the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Relays and the 2018 and 2021 World U20 Championships.
The project has grown to include athletes based at several camps in locations around the world.
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