With 22 years on, The Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA)will be celebrated next month in Nairobi.
Inaugurated in 2004 by all-time surface runner Dr Paul Tergat, SOYA has celebrated and highlighted Kenyan sporting excellence with renewed purpose, deeper impact and a future-facing vision ahead of March 6th 2026 extravaganza.
Tergat, the founder, legendary athlete and global sports icon the SOYA Awards Gala represents more than a ceremony, it signals a generational shift in how Kenyan sport is nurtured, governed and celebrated.
The immediate National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member, is driven by a life-long passion to strengthen sports governance and unlock sport as a pathway to excellence, opportunity and transformation for Kenyan youth.
This vision is deeply rooted in his own journey, one defined, not by early glory, but by late discovery and early heartbreak that became fuel rather than failure. Dr. Tergat discovered his athletic talent not as a teenager but while already drafted into the Kenya Defense Forces. In
He won five straight World Cross Country Championship titles, dominate distance running for over a decade and become one of the greatest athletes Kenya has ever produced, proof that destiny is not decided by how you fall, but how you rise.
Tergat will continue to work alongside the young people within and outside his armpit, embedding a clear succession vision and passing the baton to a younger generation to ensure the awards evolve with culture, technology and youth engagement while preserving legacy and credibility.
SOYA continues to stand as a national platform celebrating excellence while shaping the future of Kenyan sport. One athlete, one story and one generation at a time.
For over two decades, SOYA has celebrated excellence, discipline, integrity, and the transformative power of sport – bringing together the nation’s finest sports personalities and stakeholders at a landmark Gala that inspires unity, pride, and future generations both on and off the field.