Posted: February 4, 2005

Athletics: Running Legend Kip Keino to Receive Inaugural Millrose Games Humanitarian Award

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

New York, NY (February 3, 2005) – Kip Keino, two-time gold medalist at the Olympic Games and one of the greatest athletes in Kenya’s history, will be the recipient of the inaugural Millrose Games Humanitarian Award. The award will be given to an athlete who has participated in the Millrose Games and has made a tremendous contribution and commitment to the world of sport and to the global community through charitable works.

The award will be presented to Keino’s son, Andrew “Kippy” Keino, during the 98th running of the Millrose Games, the greatest and most historic invitational indoor track & field meet in the world, taking place on Friday, February 4th in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The younger Keino is running for Villanova at the New Balance College Invitational on Saturday, February 5th at the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in Washington Heights

The senior Keino, who captured a gold and silver at both the 1968 Games in Mexico City and the 1972 Games in Munich, went on to accomplish even more in life with his humanitarian efforts after he retired from competitive running in 1973. He has dedicated his life helping orphaned children in his homeland through the Kip Keino Children’s Home and Kip Keino School. He has enabled more than 100 children without parents to receive a quality education and a nurturing and comforting atmosphere that many of them had never experienced before they arrived on Keino’s doorstep. He once stated, “My mother died when I was three. I don’t want anyone else to grow up with that problem. I can’t help everyone, but I do what is within my ability.”

“We are honored to present to Kip Keino the inaugural Millrose Games Humanitarian Award,” said Millrose Games Meet Director David Katz. “His accomplishments in sport are matched only by his accomplishments in life. Through his selfless works on behalf of children, Mr. Keino deserves the undying gratitude of everyone who has ever wanted to make a difference in this world. The Millrose Games and over eight million New Yorkers thank and salute you.”

Billy Mills, a 1964 gold medalist from the United States and a contemporary of Keino, said, “If Kip never had made it out of the first round – had never won an Olympic race – he’d still be the world’s greatest Olympian ever for what he has done for the lives of others.”

Keino, President of the Kenyan Olympic Committee, won gold in the 1,500 meters and silver in the 5,000 meters in Mexico City in 1968 and gold in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and silver in the 1,500 meters in Munich in 1972. He also won the prestigious Wanamaker Mile at the 1966 Millrose Games.

Most recently, he coached top Kenyan runners in the 1996 Games in Atlanta and is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

“It is only appropriate that such a remarkable person is being recognized by one of the most prestigious track & field events ever in the history of the sport, in the heart of New York City,” continued Katz.

Highlighted by the 98th running of the Millrose Games, New York City will become a mecca for the world’s most popular sport during the Super “Week of Track & Running,” January 31 through February 6. The city’s energy and diversity, as well as its sports institutions, have combined to present a full menu of world-class events that can be enjoyed by nearly everyone throughout the tri-state area.

Among the highlights of New York’s Super “Week of Track & Running” are:

Community service gets a gold-medal hue when Team USA athletes speak to New York middle-school students, delivering a message that encourages young people to live a healthy, fit, drug-free lifestyle and urges kids to Be A Champion in life as well as in sports.

· On Friday night, Feburary 4, all eyes are on Madison Square Garden for the Garden’s longest-running event, the 98th Millrose Games. The world’s most prestigious indoor invitational track meet returns to the Garden for another unforgettable evening. Watch top Olympic medalists from around the world compete, along with New York’s Fastest Kid and some of the top high school and college talent in the country. The Millrose Hall of Fame inducts its 2004 Class, while Kenya’s legendary Kip Keino receives recognition for his remarkable humanitarian work.

· On Friday and Saturday, February 4th and 5th, the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in Washington Heights will host the premier collegiate invitational track meet in the country. The New Balance College Invitational will play host to 2,000 of the world’s best young athletes and the most established track programs in the country. With the meet being held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Friday, at the conclusion of the day’s events fans can head from the Armory to the Garden for the Millrose Games. NCAA powerhouse teams including the University of Arkansas, LSU, Stanford and Texas will take on metro-area schools such as Columbia and Manhattan. Teams from Oxford (England) and France will be on hand as well. An additional 3,000 high school athletes running in Armory events over the weekend will push the Armory’s year-to-date participant total to 100,000 athletes. More than 350,000 young people will compete by year’s end at the facility, which has helped bring indoor track to levels of popularity never before seen in New York.

The Armory hosts the sport’s past as well as its future. The athletes who compete each year at the historic – and blazing fast – track also have the rare opportunity to tour the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, which reopened at the Armory in January 2004. A modern, interactive space that celebrates the legacy of the most celebrated Olympic sport also is a teaching center and a source of inspiration for its visitors.

· Female athletes from around the East Coast fill Madison Square Garden for the finals of the Colgate Women’s Games, starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.

For more information on the Millrose Games, visit www.usatf.org.

Source: Jill Geer, USA Track & Field