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Olympics champion Peres Chepchirchir recently surprised her uncle David Barno with a new modern house as a gift for his contribution to her life.
Chepchirchir won the 2020 Olympics marathon and holds the current world record for the women’s half-marathon.
She gifted her uncle and his wife the house in a ceremony attended by friends and family as well as neighbours.
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Olympics champion Peres Chepchirchir gifts house to uncle who raised her since 2 years old
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The athlete said that her uncle raised her since she was 2 years old. "Thanks to my uncle for taking care of me since I was two years old, this is for you. Thank you God for such a blessing."
The handover ceremony included prayers, a sumptuous lunch and song and dancing.
In a past interview, Chepchirchir said she had a painful childhood, losing her mom when she was two years old and was brought up in a large family, but in an unfavourable environment.
She added that athletics was her way of changing her life and that of her family.
“I lost my mother when I was two years old. My father had three wives and my mother was the second.
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Olympics champion Peres Chepchirchir gifts house to uncle who raised her since 2 years old5
“We are 24 siblings and that is why I decided to work hard because we had very little resources at home. Life was not that easy. Small scale farming was the only source of income,” she told The Standard.
Barno, used to walk for five kilometres to Sambut Primary School daily and that stirred her latent talent in athletics.
Initially, Chepchirhir wanted to study medicine and become a nurse until she dropped out of high school due to fees and she took up athletics.
“This is where I met my husband Davis Ng’eno. I underwent hardships. Davis approached a friend of his to accommodate me. I lived in Kapsabet for one year while training,” she explained.
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Olympics champion Peres Chepchirchir gifts house to uncle who raised her since 2 years old4