The Kenyan sporting world is currently mourning the tragic death of one talented Agnes Tirop. A trailblazer in the athletic community, Tirop has joined a group of fallen heroes who will be dearly missed if not adored and praised for the incredible achievements they held in the sporting world. Even in the somber mood, we look at some of the top athletes in Kenya who met their demise quite tragically.
1. Agnes Jebet Tirop
Kenyan long-distance runner and Olympian Agnes Tirop was found dead at her home in Iten at the age of 25. Tirop, who set the women-only 10km world record in Germany last month with a time of 30:01, was known as one of Kenya’s leading athletes. Athletics Kenya first reported Tirop's death and said she was allegedly killed by her husband. Teamkenya.co.ke initially reported she was found with stab wounds in her abdomen.
In a tweet, the Kenyan National Police Service said it "wishes to assure the public of speedy and comprehensive investigations into the heinous crime."
2. Hosea Mwok Macharinyang
Just days before Tirop's death, the sporting world was stunned after news broke out of Hosea Mwok's sudden demise. The 35 year old 3 - time World Cross country champ was believed to have committed suicide. Local police in West Pokot revealed that family members found the body of Macharinyang hanging by a rope inside a building on his farm on Saturday (October 9).
He represented Kenya in five consecutive World Cross Country Championships and was a member of gold medal-winning teams at Fukuoka in Japan in 2006, Mombasa in Kenya in 2007 and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom in 2008. Macharinyang’s best individual performance in the Championships was finishing fifth in Mombasa. Athletics Kenya’s North Rift regional chairman Jackson Pkemoi revealed that Macharinyang had recently resumed running having stopped in 2012.
3. Nicholas Bett
28 year old Bett died in a car crash near his home in western Kenya. The accident occurred when Bett's vehicle hit a bump on the road between Eldoret and Kapsabet and rolled over. "He died on the spot," said Nandi county police commander Patrick Wambani. "Our condolences to his family and the entire athletics fraternity," Athletics Kenya said on social media.
As a youngster, Bett's preferred sport was volleyball. After switching to athletics, he initially showed promise in the 110m hurdles but gravitated towards the longer event. He coached himself for several years into a 49-second performer. In 2014 the Kenyan coach Vincent Mumo introduced the then 24-year-old Bett to Jukka Harkonen, who became his agent and organised a link-up with the South African coach Hennie Kotze. Bett won the 400m hurdles at the 2015 world championships in Beijing to give Kenya its first gold medal at a distance shorter than 800m. His twin brother Haron Koech is also a hurdler.
4. Samuel Wanjiru
Sammy Wanjiru, who set a blistering pace to shatter the 24-year-old Olympic record in the marathon, becoming the youngest winner of the event, died on Sunday 15th May 2011 in Nyahururu, Kenya. He was 24. His death was reported by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body for track and field. Reports quoted the police saying that Wanjiru had jumped from the balcony of his home after his wife, Triza Njeri, arrived to find him with another woman.
For all of Kenya’s dominance in long-distance running, no Kenyan had won the Olympic marathon until Wanjiru in Beijing in 2008. He became, at 23, the youngest person to win four major marathons: Chicago in 2009 and in 2010 and London in 2009, in addition to the 2008 Olympics. In 2008, the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races named Wanjiru the world athlete of the year. In 2008-9 and 2009-10, he won the World Marathon Majors, a competition based on combined performance in the world’s major marathons.
5. Francis Kiplagat
Francis Kiplagat Lagat was among those who perished in a grisly road accident on a Monday night in February 19th 2018, around 11 pm at Kikopey area, along the Eldoret-Nakuru Highway.
The accident which involved a North Rift matatu and a lorry claimed six lives, among them, the athlete, who was on his way back to Eldoret from Nairobi. Confirming the development, Julius Ndegwa, the organising secretary of the Professional Athletes Association of Kenya(PAAK) said: “It’s true we have lost Kiplagat. They had come to Nairobi to get their visas… as they were heading to Eldoret, the accident occurred at Kikopey area, a few kilometres past Gilgil,”he said.
The then 27 year old competed in several road races abroad.