The rising star of athletics, double world medalist, was found stabbed. The Federation has suspended competitions for two weeks. Kenyan athlete Agnes Tirop, a two-time world medalist in the 10,000m and fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000m, was stabbed to death, Kenyan sports officials said Wednesday.
The Kenyan police announced on Thursday, October 14, that they had arrested Agnes Tirop’s husband. “The suspect has been arrested in Mombasa. “He is in custody and was arrested while fleeing”. The arrested man, Emmanuel Rotich, is expected to appear in court on Friday, according to the same source.
Tirop, 25, rising star of athletics in his country, had just beaten a month ago the world record of 10 km in a race exclusively female in 30 min 01 sec in Herzogenaurach (Germany).
She had won World bronze in the 10,000m in 2017 and 2019, and had become world champion in cross country in 2015.
She was found dead, stabbed in the abdomen, at her home in Iten, a famous high-altitude training center in western Kenya.
“Kenya has lost a diamond who was one of the fastest rising athletes on the international stage due to her remarkable performances on the track,” the Kenyan Athletics Federation said in a statement.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also paid tribute to the champion: “It is disturbing, extremely unfortunate and sad to lose such a promising and young athlete who, at 25 years old, had already brought glory to our country through her exploits on the track.”
“Her death is all the more difficult to take because Agnes, a Kenyan heroine, was the victim of a cowardly and selfish criminal act,” he lamented in a statement.
