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Eliud Kipchoge receives Exceptional Achievement award at the Oscars of sport

Kipchoge lost World Sportsman of the Year to tennis superstar Novak Djokovich, but received a special honour only presented three times in 20 years

Eliud Kipchoge

Marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge was passed over for World Sportsman of the Year in favour of tennis superstar Novak Djokovich at the glitzy 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco yesterday, but was instead given the Exceptional Achievement Award, and made a brief but moving acceptance speech about sports’ power as a force for good in the world.

RELATED: Kipchoge ranked #21 on Sports Illustrated’s Fittest 50 list

“I am nervous,” Kipchoge said, which elicited a few giggles from the crowd. “I want to thank all my fans on all social media platforms. I want to thank everybody in this world. To those who love the sport, I want to say only one word. A running world, or a sporting world, is a peaceful world. A sporting world is a healthy world… A sporting world is an enjoyable world.”

Kipchoge was presented with the award by Kenyan long-distance runner Tegla Loroupe. The Exceptional Achievement Award has only been handed out three times in Laureus’s 20-year history. 

Known as the “Oscars of sport,” the Laureus awards are handed out yearly in recognition of the world’s top sportsmen and sportswomen and their contribution to a better world through sport. American gymnast Simone Biles received the top prize for female athletes. In addition to Djokovic and Kipchoge, World Cup footballers Kylian Mbappé and Luka Modrić, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton were also in the running for this year’s World Sportsman of the Year award.

Kipchoge was named IAAF Male Athlete of the Year in December. He won the Virgin Money London Marathon for the third time in April 2018, and went on to smash the world record by 78 seconds at Berlin in September with his 2:01:39 finish. Kipchoge is training for, he hopes, his fourth win in London on April 28.

RELATED: Kipchoge smashes world record at BMW Berlin Marathon

 

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