Eliud Kipchoge was accused of being part of the conspiracy that was allegedly behind the death of marathon ME man Kelvin Kiptum.
Kenyan endurance runner and two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge39, has been forced by his friend By Kelvin Kiptum after death to an unpleasant situation. He has been linked in speculations to Kiptum’s death.
Kiptum died at the age of 24 in a car crash in his native Kenya.
Now the 39-year-old 5,000-meter world champion and two-time Olympic medalist is opened up about his experiences to the BBC three months after his friend’s death.
Kipchoge says he feared for his family’s life during the time that connected him to Kiptum’s death.
After the death, a rumor began circulating on social media that Kipchoge was part of a conspiracy to kill Kiptum, who had broken the world record in the marathon a few months before his death.
Kiptum had run a result of 2:00.35 in Chicago last October. He became the first person to run a marathon under two hours and one minute.
– After Kiptum’s death, I received a lot of messages saying, among other things, that they will burn my house and my family. I was shocked, Kipchoge said.
– I don’t trust anyone anymore, not even my own shadow.
From Eliud Kipchoge came four years earlier (2019), the first athletewho ran the marathon in under two hours, beating the mark by 20 seconds.
However, the result was invalidated as an official world record because it did not come in an open competition. In addition, Kipchoge used tighteners, which are not found in actual competitions.
Kipchoge’s first reaction after seeing the online rumors was to check 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 my concern was myself to ask my family to be extra aware and careful. I was really scared for my family.
– It’s sad for my sons to read on social media that “your father has killed someone”.
Kipchoge tells the BBC that he also lost about 90% of his friends due to misinformation and online violence related to Kiptum’s accident.
Kipchoge’s team decided to pull the runner off after hate speech on social media. However, Kipchoge did not consider deleting his accounts.
– If I delete my account, it shows that I’m hiding something. I keep my account. I didn’t do anything, the runner said.