World champion Cheptegei to get promoted

By Abdulkarim Ssengendo

MBARARA – Uganda’s police chief, Gen. Kale Kayihura has said world junior 10,000m athletics champion Joshua Cheptegei will be given an appropriate rank to fit his world class.

The Police force runner did Uganda proud when he won gold in the 10,000m event at the IAAF World Junior Championship in Oregon, USA last week.

He hit the finish line with a time of 28 minutes, 32.86 seconds, beating Kenyan duo Elvis Cheboi and Nicholas Kosimbei who were breathing behind his neck.
 

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IGP Kayihura (left) said Cheptegei (2nd-left) deserves a rank befitting his latest achievement. PHOTO/ Abdulkarim Ssengendo

To get to the US event, the runner had earlier opened his European account with a win in the 10,000m of the Golden Spike meeting in Leiden, Netherlands. It was that performance that opened the gate for his participation in Oregon.

For his feat, Police Constable Cheptegei will be promoted to a higher rank in the coming days, Kayihura said on Saturday.

It was the fourth medal for Uganda at the world junior level and first gold since 2004.

Meanwhile, the athlete received a new car – Mitsubishi – and cash directly from President Yoweri Museveni at State House on Friday for his achievement.
 

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President Museveni rewarded the junior runner with a car and cash. PHOTO/PPU

Cheptegei’s elevation will come as hardly any surprise. In 2012, after winning gold at the London Olympics, Stephen Kiprotich was promoted from the rank of Prison Warder to that of Assistant Superintendent of Prisons.

That was not all.

When he replicated his heroics in Moscow in 2013, winning gold again in the marathon of the World Athletics Championships, Kiprotich was further elevated to the rank of Superintendent of Prisons.

It was the first time in the history of the Uganda Prisons Service for a prison officer to receive simultaneous promotions in recognition of his excellent performance in sports.
 

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Cheptegei looked ever determined to pull through in a triumphant fashion in Oregon, USA. (AFP/Getty Images)
 

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And indeed his determination led him past the finish line before all his challengers. (AFP/Getty Images)

On Saturday, IGP Kayihura, referring to Cheptegei, made it clear he would not allow a world champion to remain at a rank of a constable, saying the athletic is now beyond that echelon.

Without specifying any rank, he said: “How can a world champion be a constable? We are going to get him an appropriate rank very soon.  What he did was great for this country, for the Uganda police where he is working and for all Ugandans, and we must reward him with a good rank”.

He announced this while addressing hundreds of youth mainly students from 23 secondary schools of Mbarara district who turned up to attend a youth dialogue.

The dialogue was organized by Makerere University and hosted by Maryhill High School.
 

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Back at home, in Uganda, Cheptegei won the men's race in the Police run honoring the legendary John Akii-Bua

Cheptegei's triumphant show in the US was not his first taste of victory. On the local scene, he had been a busy man, especially with crossing the finish line before any other in a race.

Earlier in March this year, he won gold in the World University Cross Country Championships before going on to replicate his power and determination two months later in the John Akii-bua Police Centenary road run that was honoring the fallen Ugandan hero.


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