Kiptum’s tragic death marks a rupture in Kenya: they ask to give VIP treatment to their athletes

With a country still in shock over the death of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum in a road accident, a group of Kenyan MPs have decided to demand that their athletes receive VIP treatment from now on. The measure they intend to promote would concern those who do not benefit from support programs or large infrastructures in the African country.

Kiptum, 24, died on Sunday night after suffering an accident, which also killed his coach Gervais Hakizimana, on a road in the Rift Valley, not far from the young athletics star’s usual training location.

Kiptum’s death, while driving the crashed car, shocked a country proud of the successes of its athletes in medium and long distance races, but which questions about the training conditions of these athletes.

“The Ministry of Sports must take measures (…), our athletes must be taken seriously” said Gideon Kimaiyo, MP for South Keiyo, Kiptum’s constituency, after MPs from this region observed a minute’s silence before Tuesday’s session.

“Some athletes are young and have promising careers, but are abandoned to their fate,” he deplored.

“Our athletes must be treated like VIPs and benefit from security“, said Phelix Odiwuor, an opposition member from Langata, on the outskirts of Nairobi.

“All our top athletes who represent the country and who bring us all the accolades are forgotten after receiving the medals,” he considered.

Kiptum impressed the athletics world when last October, In Chicagoin the third marathon he ran, he broke the record with a time of 2:00.35surpassing the mark of his compatriot and legend of the discipline Eliud Kipchoge by 34 seconds.

The young athlete, married and father of two children, was called to be one of the stars of the Paris Games and had announced his intention to run the sub-two hour marathon on April 14 in Rotterdam, an achievement that was unthinkable until a few years ago.

“At 24, Kelvin Kiptum had achieved what many other athletes can’t even dream of,” Ng’elechei Caroline Jeptoo, representing Elgeyo Marakwet county, in the Rift Valley, more than 400km to the northwest, said on Tuesday. .

“He was a ray of hope not only for the people of his village, but for many people in this country and beyond,” he added.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the accident in which a third passenger in the car was injured.

According to the first elements of the investigation, it was Kiptum who was driving towards Eldoret “when he lost control and went off the road”, rolling for about 60 meters “until colliding with a large tree”.

In Eldoret, the main city of the Rift Valley, the athletes who trained this Tuesday did not hide their emotion.

“I ask the government to organize a farewell ceremony for Kelvin, a national funeral,” Daniel Simiu Ebenyo, the world’s 10,000 meters runner-up, told AFP.

“It is painful for the athletics family to lose someone in a car accident, a friend and such a promising athlete,” he lamented.

This is not the first time Kenyan athletics has mourned one of its athletes.

Kiptum’s traumatic death recalls that of another great Kenyan marathon runner and Beijing 2008 Olympic champion, Samuel Wanjiru, who lost his life at the same age when he fell from a balcony under strange circumstances. The medical examiner established that the athlete was hit “with a blunt object” before falling into the void.

In October 2021, women’s track and field hopeful Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home. Her husband was arrested for murder.

Others have died in road accidents, like 2015 400 meter hurdles world champion Nicholas Bett in 2018, or come close to death like double 800 meter world champion (2012, 2016) David Rudisha, in August 2019.