Agenda Item No 3 Bristol City Council Full Council 5 July
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AGENDA ITEM NO 3 BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL FULL COUNCIL 5 JULY 2012 Report of: Title: Proposal to Confer the Honour of the Freedom of the City on Kipchoge Keino, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, and Member of the International Olympic Committee. Ward: Citywide Report presented by: The Lord Mayor of Bristol Contact Telephone Number: Lord Mayor's Office - 0117 903 1450 RECOMMENDATION (i) That the Freedom of the City of Bristol be conferred upon Kipchoge Keino, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya to mark the presence in the city of the Kenyan Olympic and Paralympic teams who are staging their training camps here prior to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (ii) That his name be placed on the Roll of Honorary Freeman of the City; and (iii) That the foregoing be engrossed, sealed with the Common Corporate Seal and presented to Kipchoge (Kip) Keino at an appropriate occasion. Summary To propose the granting of the Freedom of the City to Kipchoge Keino, Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya. - 1 - Policy 1. The proposal is made in accordance with the provision of the Local Government Act 1972. Consultation 2. The City Council's Party Group Leaders. Background and Assessment 3. The Citation attached to this report outlines the distinguished and eminent service rendered by Kipchoge Keino and his influence as a 'friend' of the city. 4. Legal and Resource Implications Legal None Financial None Revenue The estimated cost of recognising the granting of the Freedom of the City would be less that £200 and would be met within existing budgets. Capital None Land None Personnel None Appendices: Appendix A - Citation outlining the distinguished and eminent service rendered by Kipchoge Keino. ACCESS TO INFORMATION Background Papers: - 2 - Kipchoge Keino This citation tells the story of a man who is revered in his own country and is widely regarded arou nd the world as having been one of the greatest athletes of a ll time; a man who has motivated large numbers of his countrymen to achieve standards i n sport which might have been regarded as impossible until he paved the way. Yet outside the worl d of at hletics, he is l ittle known and arguably his greatest achievements have gone unnoticed. Kipchoge 'Kip' Keino first came to the notice of the athletics world in 1968 when he was entered into three events; the 10,000, 5,000 and 1,500 metres races at the Mexico Olympics. He was unwell throughout the Games peri od, indeed the team doctor believed he was suffering from gallstones and that runni ng could endanger him. Run he di d, however, and in the 10,000 metres, he was in the lead with one lap to go when he collapsed, staggering off the track. The race was eventually won by a fell ow Kenyan, Naftali Temu, who thus became the first from his nation ever to win an Olympic gold medal. Kip was determined to fini sh and though disqualified already for leaving the track, got to his feet and completed the distance. Four days later he was in action agai n and took the Olympic silver medal in the 5,000 metres, narrowly losing in a thrilling finish. H e subsequently qualified for the fi nal of the 1,500 metres, but still unwell, he was confined to bed and told not to run. On the day of the 1,500 metres final, he stayed in bed, but about an hour before the race he determined that he would run, whatever the consequences. He boarded a bus bound for the Olympic Stadium, which subsequently became stuck i n traffic. Already late, Kip alighted from the bus and ran the two miles to the stadium, arriving just in time to register for the race. His main rival , Jim Ryan, undefeated for three years w as renowned as a fast fi nisher. Ki p countered thi s by setting a searing pace from the start, such that he 'burned off' all opposition and finished the race in an Olympic record time to win his fi rst Olympic gold medal. Jim Ryan took second place, some 20 metres behind Kip. Kip was operated on immediately after the Olympics and the troublesome gallstones were removed. This story provides an indication of the character of a man w ho has left his mark as a great athl ete and a remarkable human being. To understand what made him the athletics star of the 1968 Olympics and the sporti ng icon for subsequent Kenyan athletics, we need to look back to his childhood. He was born in Kipsame in Western Kenya. Both his parents died when he was very young and he wa s brought up by an aunt. H e was raised in a rural area, the nearest school being some distance away. On one of his many trips to Bristol, Kip was asked how he started in athletics. Kip's reply is illuminating... “When I started at primary school, I ran in my bare fe et four miles to school in the morning, home for lunch, back again for afternoon school, and back at the end of the day. I did this every day until I left school”. Running 16 miles a day from the age of five provi ded Kip with the fortitude to becom e one of the w orlds greatest athletes. After school, Kip trained for the police, later spending time at the Police College in Aldershot. He could have stayed in the UK and qualified to run for Great Britain. Instead he returned to Kenya and became a Physical Traini ng Instructor with the Kenyan Police Force, and it was whilst fulfilli ng these duties that he began what has become a lifelong devotion to aiding young children. He found it impossible to ignore the pl eas for help from orphans and needy youngsters, who, in increasing numbers he took hom e, or were brought to him by fellow policemen who knew of his concerns. Kip was often away and his wife Phyllis , already with the first of what would become seven chil dren of their own, who supported the view that no child should ever be turned away. In the early 60's, Kip's athlet ic career had bl ossomed, though i t was not until after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, in which he just failed to make the 1,500 metre final, when he came to the fore, breaki ng the world 3,000 metre record by som e six seconds in 1965 in hi s first attempt at the distance. He broke the world 5,000 metre record two months later and in the 1966 Commonwealth Games won two gold medals putting hi m well on track for his epic performance in Mexico two years later. After winning the 1,500 metres at the Edinburgh Com monwealth Games, Kip recei ved an anonymous death threat warning him against winning the 5,000 metres should he elect to run. The Games organisers took this threat seri ously and security was increased in the village. Kip was again threatened before the final and elected very sensibl y to run the race tucked into the pack of runners, eventually settling for the bronze medal. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, aged 32, Kip won silver in the 1,500 metres and having elected to complete in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, he won his second Olympic gold medal. Kip retired from the track in 1973 w hen athletics had only j ust turned professional. Kip was not therefore one of those athletes that was able to make a career out of sport. Kip and his wife had just enough m oney to buy some farmland in Eldoret on which he built a house. This became home to the large extended family as Kip's role as 'f ather to the fatherless' took over his life. Kip and his wife Phyllis w anted to provide a proper education for their ever-extending family and when land became available they purchased it and built a pri mary school serving over 300 chil dren from the surrounding area and adding an orpha nage to the complex. That school has been recognised as the best school in the region and is now supported by parents in the locality. In 2008 the Kip Keino Secondary School opened, offering educati on to some 400 children, includi ng the orphans. It, maybe not surprisingly, has a strong emphasis on sport. Associated with the secondary school is a training centre for elite athletes aged 14 to 18 who receive scholarships and an excellent education alongside athletics opportunities. The Kip Keino Foundati on now encompasses the orphanage, tw o schools and a farm. Kip has been very clear about the Foundation's objectives and has stated: “A fundamental challenge faci ng every society i s to devel op economic and social systems that continuously contribute towards improvement in human life. Of great importance is the buildi ng of systems that contribute to sustain ability of t he environment upon which human life depends”. Kip's 'investment' in the community of Eldoret and the many hundreds of orphans that he and his wife have provi ded for i s testament to a couple who have throughout their lives lived up to this ideal. Further afield Kip has been and remains the Chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya and is also a leadi ng member of the International Olympic Committee. His role regularly takes him around the worl d and even now in his seventi es he still runs, as he did when going to school over 60 years ago.