Kenyan marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge has revealed he feared for his life after some internet users incorrectly linked him to the tragic death of his countryman Kelvin Kiptum.
Kiptum, 24, and his coach Gervais Hakizimana were killed in a car crash on February 12 when the former lost control of the vehicle and veered off the side of the road.
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The tragedy occurred just two months after he was declared World Athletic’s Male Athlete of the Year, with Kiptum also eclipsing Kipchoge’s previous marathon world record when he ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35.
No male runner had previously broken the 2:01 barrier in an official event, with Kipchoge’s best run of 1:59:40 coming with several aids that are not allowed under IAAF rules.
Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion, was set to go toe-to-toe with Kiptum at the Paris Games in the marathon but the latter’s timely death sadly ended those hopes.
Somehow, a handful of people online felt Kipchoge — who had been the world’s best marathoner since 2018 — was somehow involved in a conspiracy to kill Kiptum after he’d beaten his record.
Speaking to BBC Sport AfricaKipchoge claimed he’d received sickening threats from strangers on the internet.
“I received a lot of bad things,” Kipchoge said.
“That they will burn the (training) camp, they will burn my investments in town, they will burn my house, they will burn my family.
“It didn’t happen but that is how the world is.”
Kipchoge, who described the news of Kiptum’s death as the “worst news ever in my life,” also claimed he immediately feared for his family’s safety once he first saw rumors regarding any involvement in Kiptum’s shock passing.
“I don’t have power to go to police and tell them my life is in danger,” Kipchoge said.
“So my concern was actually to tell my family to be extra conscious and cautious.
“I started to call a lot of people.
“I got really scared of my children going to school and coming back.
“Sometimes they bike around, but we had to stop them because you never know what will happen. We started to drop them [off] and pick them [up] in the evening.
“My girl was in boarding school – that was positive that she had no access as far as social media is concerned – but it’s tough for my boys to hear ‘Your dad has killed someone’.”
