The statue of Paris 1,500m Olympic champion Faith Kipyego was described as embarrassing and a bad joke.
Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon won gold in the women’s 1,500m and silver in the 5,000m at the Paris Olympics.
In addition, Kipyegon broke the 1,500 meters world record held by him by running a time of 3:49.09 in Paris.
To celebrate Kipyegon’s Olympic success, the country decided to erect a statue of him in the city of Eldoret.
Kipyegon’s statue was to be unveiled at an event celebrating Kenya’s Olympic athletes on Thursday. However, the statue was quickly removed even before its unveiling ceremony.
The statue was described by local residents and Kenyans as, among other things, embarrassing and a bad joke. Nor did it resemble the athlete it was supposed to portray.
The city also unveiled other artworks during the week, including a statue of the three athletes and other monuments. However, the works of art immediately attracted widespread criticism, and they became an object of the city’s ridicule rather than a source of pride.
A local journalist told for the BBCthat the authorities removed the statues depicting the athletes already on Wednesday evening.
The statue got criticism also from a respected Kenyan politician From Moses Kuria.
– Those crooks in Eldoret who made this statue of Kipyegon should be taken to court immediately. Even those who paid millions of shillings for this nonsense.
One million Kenyan shillings is approximately 7,053 euros.
Local reporter Dennis Okeyo even demanded the sculptor’s immediate arrest on his X account.
A local who shared a photo of the statue depicting Kipyegon on social media wrote that it showed Kenya’s “collective mediocrity as a country”.
– It is shameful to call it the Faith Kipyegon statue, he wrote.
A construction worker from Eldoret Brian Chibole assisted in the removal of the statue. He told news agency AFP that the statue is now lying in the company’s yard waiting to be sent back to Nairobi, where it was reportedly designed.
Eldoret is known as the “home of champions” because it is located in the Rift Valley province, where most of Kenya’s top athletes come from.
Kenya was the best-placed African country at the Paris Olympics with 11 medals, four of which were gold. In the overall medal table, the country was 17th.