daily nation newspaper kenya 17th may 2013

On Saturday, another long-distance athlete Hosea Mwok Macharinyang, a member of Kenya’s record-breaking world cross country team, died of what athletics officials said was suicide.

“Tirop’s death is the latest in a series of misfortunes that have befallen various athletes in the recent past, including suicide, family wrangles, alcoholism and illegal drug use as well as untimely deaths,” Tuwei said. She also made history in 2015 when she became the second-youngest ever gold medallist in the women’s cross country championships after Zola Budd. She was a double world 10,000m bronze medallist and 2015 world cross county champion and finished fourth in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics this year. Tirop was killed just a month after she smashed the women-only 10km world record at an event in Germany. “When we got the news it was really saddening, because Agnes has been a good person since she was young and Agnes has never been in any conflict with anyone,” added her brother Josephat Keter. Her mother Dinah Tirop spoke with sadness at the loss of her daughter, the family breadwinner who paid for children’s school fees and clothes. Mourners, some in tears, gathered at the family home in the village of Kapnyamisa, which lies about two hours’ drive from Iten. “Murder of a champ,” was the front-page headline in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.Īthletics Kenya said it was postponing cross country events for two weeks in honour of Tirop and another runner who was found dead at the weekend of an apparent suicide.Īthletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei said Tirop’s death was a “huge blow” to athletics, describing her as “one of the fastest rising stars” and voicing hope for speedy justice. Tirop’s body was found with stab wounds in the bedroom of her home in Iten in western Kenya, a high-altitude training hub for many top-class athletes. “The sooner we get him to reveal the circumstance that led to the murder of the young girl, the better for all of us. “We are closing in on the manhunt for the killer,” Keiyo North police commander Tom Makori told AFP, saying police were tracking down Rotich’s phone signal. Tirop’s husband Emmanuel Rotich was named by police as a suspect in the death of the 25-year-old double world championships medallist and Olympian, who has been hailed as a rising star cut short in her prime. Kenyan police were hunting yesterday for the husband of record-breaking runner Agnes Tirop who was stabbed to death in an incident that has shocked her home country and the world of athletics.

Daily nation newspaper kenya 17th may 2013