News of Kiptum’s death following a road accident on the morning of February 12, 2024, threw the world into mourning, but for Kipchoge, it wound up being more than that
Legendary marathoner Eliud Kipchoge on Monday, October 14 revealed sinister plans to harm him and his immediate family following the death of Kelvin Kiptum.
News of Kiptum’s death following a road accident on the morning of February 12, 2024, threw the world into mourning, but for Kipchoge, it wound up being more than that as he was thrown into a vicious campaign of online abuse that wrongfully linked him to Kiptum’s death.
This is despite an autopsy revealing that Kiptum died from severe head injuries sustained in the car crash. Kiptum was travelling with his Rwandan coach, Gervais Hakizimana, who also perished in the accident.
The late Kelvin Kiptum during the 2023 London Marathon. /TCS LONDON MARATHON
In an interview with NTV, Kipchoge revealed that his accusers had plotted to cause harm towards his children and damage not just his house but also his training camp through acts of arson and that it was easy to get to him as he revealed not having personal protection.
“By 30 minutes past midnight, the discussions were there. Many people discussed how to burn my house, to harm the children and to burn the camp where I was training,” he recalled.
“It’s scary…I go for training at 6 o’clock I do not have bodyguards it is easy to kill me. However, it is life, and in life, 97% of people are negative thinkers.”
Reacting to news of Kiptum’s death, Kipchoge revealed that he was in the middle of a busy training schedule when he learnt of it and mourned briefly. However, he later stumbled upon numerous posts accusing him of playing a hand in the death of the 24-year-old.
“It was bad, the 12th of February was really bad. I mourned Kiptum for only 15 minutes, the rest I did not mourn. I was in training with four of my boys when I heard Kiptum had died, I was shocked,” he disclosed.
“I went in took a shower and dressed up before taking my phone. Immediately I took the phone, instead of mourning Kiptum I read people saying that I killed him.”
The two were expected to go head to head during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. In October 2023, during the Chicago Marathon, Kiptum broke Kipchoge’s record after clocking 2:00:35, perhaps the genesis of the insinuations that Kipchoge was allegedly involved in Kiptums death.
The late Kiptum became the first athlete to break 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon, taking 34 seconds off the world record at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 8, 2023. With that performance, he improved his personal best by 50 seconds to surpass the world record of 2:01:09 set by his compatriot Kipchoge in Berlin on September 25, 2022.
Kipchoge spoke to the media in Spain on October 20, 2023, where he was awarded the prestigious Princess of Asturias Sports Award for 2023. He expressed his happiness for Kiptum.
However, he revealed that he was not surprised that the late 24-year-old had broken his record, expressing his delight at setting the stage for other athletes to break records.
