The President of the Kenyan Athletics Association (Athletics Kenya), Jackson Tuwei, has called for a “speedy justice” for the late record-breaking runner, Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom.
“On the evidence of what she has achieved in her young career, thus far, this is a life cut short, one that will pain us for quite a long time.
“We are confident the relevant agencies are working around the clock to ensure speedy justice to the family and friends who have been left emotionally scarred by someone they depended on for financial and psychological support”.
Athletics Kenya
According to Kenyan media reports, she was found with stab wounds in her abdomen just 10 days after her last race in Switzerland. Kenyan police say they have initiated investigations into the matter. The police have however, named Tirop’s husband, Emmanuel Rotich, as a suspect in the death of the double world championships medalist and Olympian.
Olympian Agnes Tirop dies at age 25
Kenya’s Athletics federation confirmed on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the death of one of the finest Kenyan runners of all-time, Agnes Tirop, a two-time world championships bronze medalist.
The 25-year-old athlete was found dead at her home in Iten in Western Kenya, a town renowned as a training base for distance runners. Athletics Kenya said in a statement that it was still working to uncover details of the incident. The Federation said “Kenya has lost a jewel”.
“She was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track.
“We have not yet accepted that it is Tirop whom we prayed for every day with so much hope to do mighty and good things for Kenya, and now, she has been finished like that, we are not happy”.
Athletics Kenya
In September 2021, Tirop shattered a long-standing women-only 10km world record at the ‘Adizero Road To Records’ event in Germany. Her time of 30:01 was 28 seconds faster than the previous record set by Morocco’s Asmae Leghzaoui in 2002.
Last appearance on the tracks
Her last race was on October 3, 2021 at the ‘The Giants Geneva, Genève 10km run’ where she finished third. Tirop, considered one of the most talented Kenyan distance runners, first represented Kenya as a junior when she was only 16 at the African Cross-Country Championships in 2012, where she earned silver.
The talented runner closed her debut year with bronze in the 5000m at the World U20 Championships in Barcelona. She added another bronze at the World U20 Championships in Oregon in 2014 before moving up to the senior ranks.
Tirop became the second-youngest winner of the senior women’s title at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she just missed the 5000m podium, finishing fourth behind the winner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
Kenyan President mourns Tirop
Her death shocked the nation and the entire sports fraternity with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta leading the tributes. President Kenyatta described her untimely demise as “unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad”. According to him, “we’ve lost a young and promising athlete who, at a young age of 25 years, had brought our country so much glory through her exploits on the global athletics stage”.
“It is even more painful that Agnes, a Kenyan hero by all measures, painfully lost her young life through a criminal act perpetuated by selfish and cowardly people. I urge our law enforcement agencies led by the National Police Service to track down and apprehend the criminals responsible for the killing of Agnes.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta
World Athletics also said they were deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely death of “Kenya’s jewel”.
READ ASLO: Ghana to Grow at 4.7% In 2021– IMF
