Olympian Beatrice Chebet wins SJAK Sports Personality Award

Star athlete Beatrice Chebet is the LG/SJAK Sports Personality of the Month (SPOM) for August 2024, following her extraordinary performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics

At the Games, she won two gold medals — in the women’s 5,000 and 10,000m races. This is the fifth time that Chebet is winning the LS/SJAK SPOM award.

The two-time World Athletics Cross Country champion made history as the first Kenyan woman to win two gold medals in a single Olympics Games on her debut in the Summer Games.

Chebet, 24, won the 10,000m race in 30:43.25 at the Stade de France, four days after bagging the 5,000m gold.

In the 5,000m final, she became the second woman in Kenyan history to win the event after Vivian Cheruiyot’s victory in the Rio 2016 Games.

Chebet took the 5,000m top honors in 14:28.56, during a dramatic race that saw three-time 1,500m

Olympics champion, Faith Kipyegon, disqualified and later reinstated to bag the silver in her season best 14:29.60.

LG’s Managing Director for East Africa, Dongwon Lee, expressed confidence that the latest SPOM recognition will motivate Chebet to continue breaking records, while encouraging other upcoming sportsmen and women to emulate her consistency.

“Chebet’s performance at the Olympics was nothing short of outstanding, and we are sure that she will continue to impress globally,” he said.

It was a tough call for the SPOM panelists to decide between Chebet and Kipyegon, with the latter making history as the first Kenyan to win the 1,500m Olympics title back-to-back after setting a new Olympic record of 03:51.29.

The other nominees for the award included Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who won Kenya’s fifth consecutive gold medal in the 800m Olympics race, and KCB Rugby Halfback Emmanuel Opondo, who played a key role as the bankers won their third consecutive Kabereri Sevens title. He was also named the most valuable player of the tournament after scoring a try and a conversion, while passing numerous plays that enabled his teammates beat the Menengai Oilers 29-07.

Harambee Starlets and Kenya Police Bullets FC goalkeeper, Annedy Kundu, also made the nomination list following her exemplary performance at the just-concluded 2024 CECAFA Women’s Challenge Cup, where she was also named the most valuable player.

Other nominees were cricket player Kreeshna Mehta, who is part of the Kenya U-19 team, and who was recognized for the 288 runs she made as Kenya beat Malawi at the ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup

Africa Division 2 Qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda. World U-20, 5000m champion, Andrew Alamisi, who won Kenya’s second gold in history in the event in Lima, Peru, was also in consideration.

SJAK president, James Waindi, congratulated Chebet and encouraged all the nominated sports men and women to uphold their winning spirit across their various disciplines.