Kenyan athletic champion Faith Kipyegon became emotional after receiving prize money for breaking two world records in a week, saying she would use it to buy a car for her father.
President William Ruto presented her with 5m Kenyan shillings ($36,000, £28,000) – in the form of a giant cheque – for her stunning achievements.
The 29-year-old is being hailed as “superhuman” after beating the world record for the women’s 5,000m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on Friday, winning in 14 minutes, 5.2 seconds.
It comes a week after the mother of one broke the world record in the 1,500m in the Florence Diamond League, in 3 minutes 49.11 seconds.
The two-time Olympic champion attended a reception on Tuesday in her honour at State House, where she was told she had also been given a house worth 6m Kenyan shillings in the capital, Nairobi, as part of her prize.
“Thank you so much, Mr. President. I’m so happy with the reward, now I can own a house in Nairobi, and with the money I can say now I can buy my father a car.
“I promised him that when I broke the World Record that I was going to buy a car for him… now I can fulfil my promise.”
Mr Ruto said he was making it a new policy to award other Kenyan athletes who set world records a sum of 5m Kenyan shillings.