London 2012 blog

Yesterday it was my great pleasure to travel to Bristol and spend the day with a man who is a legend, not only in Olympic terms but also off the track too – Kip Keino.

For those of you who are a little too young to remember, Kip won 1500m gold at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, beating the American favourite and world record holder by the largest winning margin in the history of the event. He won gold again in the 3000m Steeplechase in Munich and retired in 1973 with two Olympic silver medals to add to his gold’s.

Kip, who is now Chair of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya, was in the UK to launch the Kenya-Bristol partnership, a project that reflects our vision of using London 2012 to change people’s lives. Along with another inspirational man, Bob Reeves, who is Director of Sport at the University of Bristol. Bob has been the driving force behind this project and has been working closely with Kip on its development for the last year. It was great to see the South West using the games as an inspiration for exciting project.

There is so much exciting activity going on with the Kenya-Bristol Project that I could write all day but to give you a snapshot; many Bristol schools will engage in partnership with schools in Kenya; one of the features of the partnership, over and above sporting matters, is a 'Healthy Schools' initiative. Bristol's professional football, cricket and rugby clubs will engage with the Kenyan National Governing Bodies and set up coach and player development activities with them. Bob and Kip are also exploring commercial and cultural development opportunities as well as student exchanges. Bob is also in the process of identifying some promising young athletes from Bristol who will go to Kip Keino's Athlete Performance Centre at altitude in his home town in Kenya.

Yesterday's launch took place at Ashton Park School, which as part of the Kenya-Bristol Project has a twinning arrangement with a school in Kenya. Pupils at the school heard Kip talk about the Kenya-Bristol Project and the lucky few had a 30 minute session with Kip who took them through what it is like to be an Olympic champion and also using the power of that success in life beyond sport. Since retiring, Kip has built the Kip Keino Primary School located near Eldoret, while Kip Keino Secondary School opened earlier this year. He also runs a charitable organisation for orphans and has the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in this home town of Eldoret named after him.

Finally, a little Kip anecdote…. When he met Paul Deighton on Friday in our offices, Paul asked Kip what he thought we could all do to make London 2012 a great success. Kip's response was that we have a great country, great infrastructure and we will deliver a successful Olympics. But how to make it great? 'Smile' was his response, from those welcoming athletes at our airports to our transport providers, volunteers, officials on the fields of play to the dignitaries handing out the medals. It is simple, but we all smiled with him!