Tag: Kelvin Kiptum

“She Will Be Cursed Her Entire Life”: Kelvin Kiptum’s Dad Accuses Widow of Fleeing with Son’s Cash After Burial

Family Dispute Erupts Over Estate of Late Marathon Champion Kelvin Kiptum

The death of marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum on February 11, 2024, has left a profound void in the athletics community.

However, beyond the grief, a contentious dispute has emerged within his family, centering on allegations made by Kiptum’s father, Mzee Samson Cheruiyot, who has accused his son’s widow, Asenath Rotich, of abandoning the family home and allegedly taking off with Kiptum’s money shortly after his burial.

Allegations and Family Tensions

In a recent interview, Mzee Cheruiyot refuted claims that he and his wife forced Asenath out of her matrimonial home in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County.

He asserted that Asenath left voluntarily shortly after Kiptum’s burial, first relocating to Kipkorgot before eventually moving to Nairobi.

Expressing his anguish, Mzee Cheruiyot lamented:

“The wife of my child will be cursed her whole life… If God is really present, let her live. When he died, she did not even finish a month here; she left. Let her leave and eat our son’s money alone. We will cry to God only.”

Kelvin Kiptum’s wife, Asenath Rotich, was overcome with grief during his burial.

Government’s Swift Intervention

Following Kiptum’s untimely death in a road accident, the Kenyan government moved quickly to honor his legacy and support his family.

President William Ruto personally oversaw the construction of a new home for Asenath and her children in Naiberi, completing the project within seven days.

Additionally, the President pledged to secure employment for Asenath to ensure financial stability for her young family.

President Ruto emphasized Kiptum’s contributions to Kenya’s global recognition in athletics, underscoring the state’s moral obligation to care for his loved ones.

However, the ongoing family dispute has cast a shadow over these efforts, raising concerns about the unity of Kiptum’s family and the distribution of resources meant for their welfare.

A Family Divided

Further complicating the situation, 22-year-old Edna Awuor has come forward, claiming to have been in a relationship with Kiptum since 2019.

She asserts that they lived together and had a daughter, who was one year and seven months old at the time of his passing.

Seeking legal recognition for her child, Edna filed a petition to delay Kiptum’s burial until a DNA test could confirm paternity.

However, the High Court in Eldoret dismissed her application, citing the advanced stage of burial preparations.

In December 2024, Edna visited Kiptum’s family home in Naiberi, where she shared photos of her child with Mzee Cheruiyot. The visit fueled speculation about Asenath’s absence, as Edna’s daughter was seen spending time with Kiptum’s father.

As the first anniversary of Kiptum’s death approaches, Edna continues to mourn publicly, sharing heartfelt tributes to the late athlete.

Legacy Overshadowed by Disputes

The ongoing conflicts have cast a pall over Kiptum’s legacy, exposing the delicate balance between grief, inheritance, and family ties in the wake of his tragic passing.

For now, Mzee Cheruiyot’s words linger heavily: “She will be cursed her entire life.” Whether this is a cry of pain or a foreboding warning, only time will tell.

February 10, 2025
I Feared For My Children Lives, Eliud Kipchoge On How Internet Speculations Impacted His Life

Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge says in an interview with the BBC that he feared for the life of his family and that he was sacrificed to an online hate campaign in which he was wrongly linked to the death of fellow Kenyan marathon runner Kelvin Kiptum.

Kelvin Kiptum

Kiptum, the world record holder who was on point Kipchoge’s dominance on the marathon definitive over the taking died at the age of 24 from the consequences of a car accident in February.Some social media users began to speculate that Kipchoge was part of a conspiracy to kill Kiptum. Kiptum improved Kipchoge’s world record marathon in Chicago last October and put it at a wee hour and 35 seconds.

Family and family threatened

‘I was shocked that people on social media platforms claimed ‘Eliud is involved in the death of this boy,” said 39-year-old Kipchoge.. That was the worst news ever in my life.” I have received many bad things; that they will set the training camp on fire, that they will burn my investments in the city, that they will burn my house, that they will burn my family.” It didn’t happen, but that’s just how the world is put together.”

Kipchoge’s first reaction when he saw the abuse and the false rumors was to see if his family was safe. “I don’t have the power to go to the police and tell them that my life is in danger. So I wanted to tell my family to be extra careful,” he said.

“I started calling a lot of people. I really feared that my children would go to school and not come back.” Sometimes they cycle around, but we had to stop them because you never know what will happen. We went to take them to school and pick them up again.” My daughter is at boarding school – that was positive that she didn’t have access to social media – but it’s hard for my boys to hear ‘Your father killed someone’.”

Mother

Kipchoge was overwhelmed by emotion during a candid interview at his home in Eldoret when he talked about the impact the abuse campaign had on his mother. “My worst moment was when I tried to call my mother,” he said.

“She said to me ‘Be careful’ and ‘A lot has happened’. Where I come from is a real outland. That my mother already knew about the threats hit me hard and I realized that social media has influence everywhere. But she gave me courage. It was a really tough month.”

Lost ninety percent of friends

However, Kipchoge, who only became the third person to win consecutive Olympic marathons when he defended his title in Tokyo in 2021, decided not to take precautions for his own safety. “I saw no reason to change training location because my life is transparent,” he explained.

“Our sport is not exercising in the gym, but going outside to run. I walk freely on the street.”

Kipchoge claims he lost ‘about 90%’ of his friends due to the wrong link to Kiptum’s accident and online abuse.

“It was really painful for me to hear even negative words from my own people, my training mates, those I contacted. I was really depressed when I experienced that.”

Poor performance in Tokyo

Kipchoge’s team decided to remove him from social media in the aftermath of the hate campaign, but he said he never considered deleting his accounts.” If I delete my accounts, it shows that I’m hiding something,” he said. “I will keep accounts I haven’t done anything.”

However, he believes the abuse of social media has affected his performance during the Tokyo marathon. Kipchoge finished 10th during the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, his worst finish since his debut in 2013.

He crossed the line more than two and a half minutes behind the winner Benson Kipruto. “When I was in Tokyo, I didn’t sleep for three days,” he revealed. “It was my worst final standings ever.”

Olympic marathon

Despite that setback, he was included in Kenya’s marathon team for the Paris 2024 Olympics last Wednesday and is now focusing on writing more history at the Games if he wants to win a third gold medal in a row.

“It’s about getting up and going straight again, towards your goal,” added Kipchoge, who became the first person to run a marathon under two hours in 2019, albeit under controlled conditions in Vienna.

“I want to go into the history books, be the first person to win the Olympic marthon three times in a row.”

Dangerous

Kipchoge has himself been the victim of harassment and threats and believes that social media companies are ‘not doing much’ to prevent abuse on their platforms. “These faceless people post bad things and are really dangerous,” he said.

“If you report some accounts, it will take a while before they delete those accounts. They need to act quickly, collect the facts, and delete accounts. People need to know that if you say something that is not right, your account will be deleted.”

However, Kipchoge has welcomed an announcement from the International Olympic Committee that it plans to “react proactively and on a large scale” to protect athletes from online abuse during Paris 2024. The IOC plans to use artificial intelligence, to help recognize offensive messages and report them to social media companies.” I think that’s the right method,” said Kipchoge.

Trust

But for Kipchoge, it’s already too late to prevent the emotional scars he’s suffered.” I’ve learned that friendship can’t be forever,” he said. I’m sorry this happened at the moment I’ve been active in the sport for over 20 years.” What happened has made me not trust anyone anymore. I don’t even trust my own shadow.”

May 7, 2024
‪What Nike Has Done To Eliud Kipchoge Is A War Crime, His Lawyer Says‬

Kenyan lawyer Donald Kipkorir DBK has angrily reacted to marathoner Eliud Kipchoge’s Nike kit for the Olympics.

DBK who has been a legal representative for the athlete in some cases here in Kenya was not amused by the kits terming it as an act of war, “what NIKE has designed for Kenya’s 2024 Paris Olympics casual & what it has designed for US & others. It is like NIKE asked Kanye West to design our uniform when drunk! NIKE underpays our athletes by as low as 1% what they pay US athletes. Then they give us alien clothes!” He wrote in a tweet attached with photos for comparison.

A screenshot of the post.

Kenyan star athletes Faith Kipyegon and Eliud Kipchoge showcase the Team Kenya running kits for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Nike Product Launch in the French’s capital.

Kipchoge plans to win third Olympic Games marathon

Kipchoge expects to make history with his third consecutive Olympic marathon gold medal at this year’s Games in Paris, he told Reuters in a interview on Thursday, adding that there were no thoughts about retirement yet.

Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila, East Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski and Kipchoge are the only athletes to have won two Olympic gold medals in the marathon when they retained their titles.

“My huge expectation actually is to win the Olympics for the third time,” said Kipchoge, who turns 40 in November and finished 10th at last month’s Tokyo Marathon.
That result and his relatively vintage age has not made him doubt his chances in Paris, Kipchoge said.

“I think I just got tired … I don’t know what happened but it’s life, it’s sport, it’s the beauty of sport.”

Retirement plans
As questions swirl over whether Kipchoge plans to retire soon, he reiterated his commitment to trying to inspire people of all levels to keep on the move, saying: “If you can convince me that the moment I will be crossing the finishing line the whole world has become a running world then I will retire.”

Asked whether he could race at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Kipchoge said: “You know in Kenya we say you don’t chase two rabbits at a time, you will miss all of them. You chase one. So the rabbit of the Olympic Games is what I’m chasing now. After that I go back to the drawing board, see what’s in my bucket list and start again to chase the next.”

Kipchoge at the Nike Product Launch. Photo/Pool.

In 2019 Kipchoge became the first person to cover the 42.2km marathon distance in under two hours, though the record was unofficial as he had teams of pacers and was not in open competition.

Athletics Kenya named their marathon shortlist for Paris last week, including Kipchoge, Benson Kipruto and Timothy Kiplagat, and defending women’s marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir alongside Birgid Kosgei and Hellen Obiri.

A tragic absentee was Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash in Kenya’s Rift Valley in February and, having destroyed Kipchoge’s world record by over half a minute last October with a time of 2:00:35, had been widely seen as the sport’s best hope to break the two-hour marathon mark in an official race.

Asked whether he sees that milestone being hit soon, Kipchoge said: “We have a lot of talented athletes … first is to dare to think to break, secondly is to dare to do it. I have shown them the way.”

In a first for the Olympic Games, the head of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, announced on Wednesday that athletics gold medallists in Paris will earn $50,000 each, with silver and bronze also set to get prize money from LA 2028 onwards.

“I don’t run because of money but I run because I want to perform,” Kipchoge said, adding: “It was a great idea for Seb Coe and World Athletics … for the young generations I think it’s a good idea to develop – it makes sport more interesting.”

Additional reporting by Reuters.

April 12, 2024
Kiptum’s Accident And The Botched Shoe Deal With A Chinese Firm

Four unknown men walked into Kelvin Kiptum’s home in Chepsamo village, Elgeyo Marakwet for a specific reason. According to the father they introduced themselves as visitors from the big house implying State House. As it would later come to light, the four were agents of Chinese shoe company Qiaodan Sports that Kiptum had signed a contract with prior and they were doing a follow up and deal brokering after the athlete dropped the brand.

Four days later after this meeting, Kiptum died in a mysterious road accident. Kiptum’s father, Samson Cheruiyot broke down in tears during a media interview as several family members surrounded him. The father asked for an investigation to be opened and is asked for answers.

Samson Cheruiyot claims that four strangers came to his house asking for Kiptum and that they must have been evasive about what the purpose was.

“They said they wanted to get hold of him, and now that this has happened, I wonder what they were looking for at the time. What did they want from my son? They refused to identify themselves, says Cheruiyot according to The Times.

Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives arrested and questioned them to establish the nature and motive of their visit, after Kiptum’s father, Samson Cheruiyot raised an alarm. Leaders from the region and parliament had called for a probe into the death with a general belief that there was a foul play.

However, the men, who were described as strangers to the family by Mr Kiptum’s father, said they were not strangers to the family as the business talks have been ongoing. Begging the question as to why the father would have changed his tune and when more worrying is the nature of the negotiations that would raise his suspicions to link the visits to the accident.

Speaking after grilling by detectives in Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, the two former Uasin Gishu MCAs and two businessmen confirmed that they visited the athlete’s home to discuss a business deal as agents of the Chinese firm.

Details have now emerged about their mission to the late Kiptum’s home.

The four men reportedly sought out Kiptum to discuss the particulars of a Ksh.45 million contract signed between the late marathoner and the Chinese company.

The athlete had opted to pay back the Chinese company, but the company was only interested in having the athlete fulfill his contractual obligation and not a legal battle so they sent the four to negotiate a deal.

“The Chinese company was to supply sports equipment to Kiptum to be used during the Chicago marathon and it is alleged that Kiptum opted to use a different brand (Nike) and not the Chinese brand as agreed,” Elgeyo Marakwet CCIO Joshua Chelal said.

“Therefore Qiaodan Sports were aggrieved and sent the four men to negotiate whether they could be compensated or whether they would be given another opportunity to supply Kiptum equipment for the forthcoming Rotterdam race slated for April 2024.”

Botched Deal

British The Times writes that Qiaodan Sports and Kiptum are said to have been in a dispute over a contract worth around Sh45 million.

The Chinese claimed they had an agreement with Kiptum, but the Kenyan ran with Nike, with whom he had a favorable contract.

Before the London Marathon, Qiaodan Sports appeared at Kiptum’s hotel and claimed a contract was in place, according to the newspaper.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan has also been in trouble with Qiaodan Sports. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP / NTB

Qiaodan Sports has previously been in litigation with basketball legend Michael Jordan, and was ordered to pay 54,000 dollars at the time. The reason is that the logo of Qiaodan Sports is similar to Nike’s Jordan collection. Qiaodan is a fairly shady brand. The brand name is Chinese pronunciation of Jordan (Michael) and the logo is a silhouette of Michael Jordan as well.

Quiodan and Nike don’t get along very well. Quiodan is the phonetic transcription of Jordan in Chinese and they have been fighting in court for years. The logo doesn’t help either.

After the feat of Valencia, the Chinese brand Qiaodan keen to leverage on his glory offered a Sh45 million contract to the athlete to dress and equip him, trying this way to enter road athletics and lay the foundations of a sports project that was going to have Kiptum as a great ambassador. The athlete, through his representative Marc Corstjens, accepted the offer and signed the contract on January 15, 2023.

He becomes a poster boy for the Chinese brand.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly: Kiptum had signed the contract, had collected it and had begun to use the material of the Chinese brand while preparing for the 2023 London Marathon

But something happens, Kiptum after wider consultation realizes he got the shorter arm of the deal and felt exploited having been just new in the industry and only starting to make money as a professional athlete and assumingely naive, Kiptum silently boycotts the brand and cancels the deal with Qiaodan. Kiptum had struck a better deal with an anericanprofessional sports company.

However, tensions arose when Kiptum, amidst preparations for the prestigious London Marathon, seemingly disappeared just days before the event.

Qiaodon representatives, who had traveled to Kenya to accompany their sponsored athlete, found themselves unable to reach Kiptum, raising concerns about his commitment to the sponsorship agreement.

The situation took a dramatic turn when, at the London Marathon, Kiptum appeared clad in Nike apparel, contradicting his contractual obligations with Qiaodon.

Qiaodon, understandably dismayed by Kiptum’s actions, is reportedly contemplating legal action against the Kenyan athlete.

According to a demand letter dated 23rd April 2023 seen by Kenya Insights, Zhongqiao Sports Company Limited, the makers of the shoes are threatening to sue Kiptum over the alleged breach.

Copies of the demand letter to Kiptum.

Despite the threats of litigation, Kiptum stood his ground and dumped the Chinese company. And according to the police in Kenya report, he was willing to refund the company its money but they were reluctant and perhaps in a desperate situation, the firm was still determined and keen to have Kelvin onboard that they sent their agents to try convince him to accept the deal. With Kiptum holding a world marathon record, the subsequent races would give the company the much needed mileage. It is the desperate attempts to convince Kiptum into accepting the Chinese contract that got them in this whole circus of a tragic accident.

A preliminary report by investigators on the vehicle in which Kiptum and his coach died has ruled out any mechanical problems.

“The examiner said there was no pre-accident evidence of a mechanical breakdown, which means it had good breaks, tyres, lights, etc,” police said.

However, other aspects of the accident investigation were ongoing, he said.

For the Olympics in Paris this summer, it was expected that Kiptum against Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon would be one of the biggest highlights.

Kelvin Kiptum is one of many from Kenya who has reached the top of the world in running. Running gives high status in the home country.

February 18, 2024