President Museveni has presented each of Uganda’s medalists Cheptegei, Chemutai, and Kiplimo with a brand new vehicle following their successful performance at the just-concluded Olympics games.
The Ugandan Olympic medalists Peruth Chemutai, Joshua Cheptegei, and Jacob Kiplimo each received brand new cars from President Yoweri Museveni after an outstanding performance at the recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics games.
Uganda scooped two gold medals courtesy of Peruth Chemutai in the women’s 3000m steeplechase race and Joshua Cheptegei in the men’s 5,000m finals.
Cheptegei also won a bronze whereas Jacob Kiplimo won bronze in the men’s 1000 metres.
The medals meant Uganda finished 37th overall, out of 206 nations and second behind only Kenya in Africa out of 54 countries.
“For those who have won Olympics medals and since I am a happy man now, I will give each one of them a vehicle. I will build houses for parents of the gold medal people. I therefore congratulate Cheptegei, Chemutai and Kiplimo for performing well in Olympics games,” Museveni said at the welcome function held at the Kololo Independence grounds.
Speaking at the same function, the State Minister for Sports, Denis Hamson Obua who led the delegation to Tokyo applauded the runners for raising the country’s flag high.
He also hailed the President together with the First Lady who also doubles as the Education and Sports minister Janet Museveni for the great financial support they rendered to the team.
“In my language we have a saying that if a cow delivers during your tenure as a herdsman, it is you to partake of the milk. The four medals were not only delivered during your time but you took a centre stage in our preparation and we salute you for this. As the battle group commander for team Uganda, we followed your guidance to the dot,” Obua said.
Meanwhile, in her statement, the First Lady who also applauded the team for great sportsmanship promised that government is not ready to continue issuing out even more funding for the progress of sports countrywide.
“I thank God who went before you as your shield and rearguard to protect you. On behalf of the Ministry of Education and Sports, I thank you Mr. President for supporting our people to excel and develop their talents but also participate in important sports events all over the world,” she said.
