Jeff Koinange hosted three legendary athletes Ibrahim Hussein Kipkemboi, Douglas Wakiihuri and Sally Barsosio on the JKLive show on Citizen TV on Wednesday, October 16 to celebrate Eliud Kipchoge's historic run in Vienna, Austria on Saturday, October 12, 2019.
During the show, Koinange sought to know whether the legendary Kenyan athletes were being recognized in a satisfactory manner for the honour that they brought the country through triumphs abroad.
The question prompted one of the guests, Kipkemboi, to recount a time he visited Los Angeles in the United States when he encountered a sight that got him thinking about the Kenyan athletes.
"Before I entered the shop, I saw many handprints of the famous guitar players in the US. I then realized that you do not need to have a house named after you to feel celebrated. We request the government to give us a street to cement our footsteps. If that cannot happen, then the government could at least name a street after athletes in general," he posited.
Koinange, in response to the discussion, offered to hand over Koinange Street to be named after the athletes.
"You guys can take Koinange and rename it Mashujaa Street, I don't mind. Imagine the number of tourists that would flock the place... Even the 'ladies of the night' will be forced to move out," he stated, eliciting laughter.
The athletes declined the offer amid laughter, chipping in with an extension of the joke that those 'ladies of the night' were also their biggest fans and there was no need to deprive them.
Towards the end of the show, however, Jeff reiterated that he was willing to look into the street-naming issue to ensure that the athletes got honored in the right way.
Barsorio was won Kenya's first-ever 10,000m women's Gold at the 1997 Athletics world championships in Athens. She is recorded as the youngest ever world junior medallist, at 14 and 182 days, when she won bronze in Seoul in 1992.
Among the many medals that Wakiihuri has won in his career, the most legendary was the London Marathon in 1989. He was also the chief trainer to the first lady before the First Lady Marathon at Kasarani in 2016.
Ibrahim Hussein Kipkemboi was also recorded as the first African to win the Boston Marathon, a feat he achieved in 1988 and later in 1991 and 1992, as well as the New York Marathon in 1987.
