{"id":33645,"date":"2026-05-04T14:58:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33645"},"modified":"2026-05-04T14:58:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:58:33","slug":"kenyas-kiarie-earns-praise-after-african-skating-gold","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/kenyas-kiarie-earns-praise-after-african-skating-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya\u2019s Kiarie earns praise after African skating gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President William Ruto has paid tribute to Kenya\u2019s rising skating star Kevin Kiarie after he clinched gold at the Africa Inline Freestyle Championships in Egypt over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ruto described Kiarie\u2019s achievement as an inspiration to athletes in Kenya and across the continent, adding that his talent and determination could see him succeed on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kiarie\u2019s latest win comes just weeks after another strong showing at the International Challenge Skating Championships in Benin, where he secured gold in freestyle and silver in slalom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, his success has not come without challenges. The skater reportedly had to fund his own trip to Benin after failing to secure financial support from the Ministry of Sports.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Images of Kiarie standing alone on the podium with the Kenyan flag sparked public anger back home, with many questioning the lack of support for athletes representing the country internationally.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ruto\u2019s public recognition is now being seen as a possible turning point, with hopes that it could lead to greater government backing for both Kiarie and the sport going forward.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13358,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33645","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"President William Ruto has paid tribute to Kenya\u2019s rising skating star Kevin Kiarie","published_date":"2026-05-04 13:06:41","news_description":"President William Ruto has paid tribute to Kenya\u2019s rising skating star Kevin Kiarie","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33646,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33645\/revisions\/33646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}