Paul Tergat assumes future-facing vision for SOYA Awards

Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA), celebrated for the last 22 years, highlighting Kenyan sporting excellence, now steps into its 23rd edition with renewed purpose, deeper impact and a future-facing vision led by its founder, legendary athlete and global sports icon Dr. Paul Tergat.

Set for 6 March, the upcoming SOYA Awards Gala represents more than a ceremony, it signals a generational shift in how Kenyan sport is nurtured, governed and celebrated.

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Tergat, a former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) president and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, is driven by a life-long passion to strengthen sports governance and unlock sport as a pathway to excellence, opportunity and transformation for Kenyan youth.

This vision is deeply rooted in his own journey, one defined, not by early glory, but by late discovery and early heartbreak that became fuel rather than failure.

Tergat discovered his athletic talent not as a teenager but while already drafted into the Kenya Defense Forces. In 1992, after winning the Kenyan trials for the World Cross Country Championships, an injury and an ill-preparation for winter conditions, forced him to miss the global stage.

This is a moment that could easily have ended his international dreams before they began. Instead of pushing him into oblivion, that setback became his defining moment. It did not break him, it built him. It sharpened his resilience, strengthened his discipline and ignited a deeper hunger to succeed.

Ironically, 1992 became the pivotal year his international career truly began, not through competition, but through character.

He would go on to win five straight World Cross Country Championship titles, dominate distance running for over a decade and become one of the greatest athletes Kenya has ever produced, proof that destiny is not decided by how you fall, but how you rise.

His legendary rivalry with Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, once fierce competitors but always close friends, mirrors the deeper spirit SOYA champions, competition rooted in respect, growth and lifelong camaraderie beyond medals and records.

As SOYA enters its third decade, Tergat will continue to work alongside the young people within and outside his armpit, embedding a clear succession vision and passing the baton to a younger generation to ensure the awards evolve with culture, technology and youth engagement while preserving legacy and credibility.

"SOYA was never about trophies alone," said Tergat. "It is about building belief, especially in young people who think failure is the end, when in truth it is often the beginning."

From schools and grassroots clubs to elite arenas, SOYA continues to stand as a national platform celebrating excellence while shaping the future of Kenyan sport. One athlete, one story and one generation at a time.

As the countdown to 6 March begins, the 23rd edition of SOYA Awards marks not just another ceremony, but a milestone moment, honoring 22 years of impact, a calendar year of another outstanding performances while boldly investing in the champions of tomorrow.