Kenyan athlete Agnes Jebet Tirop, a rising star in athletics in her country, was found dead, stabbed in the abdomen, at her home in Iten, a famous high-altitude training center in western Kenya Kenyan sports officials said on Wednesday (October 13th).
"Kenya lost a diamond who was one of the fastest growing athletes on the international stage thanks to her remarkable performances on the track," the Kenya Athletics Federation said in a statement.
"We continue to work to clarify the circumstances of his death," the statement said.
Tom Makori, police commander in the district of Keiyo (west), told AFP that Emmanuel Rotich, Tirop's husband, was wanted.
"The suspect made a call to Tirop's parents to tell them that he had done something wrong. So we think he knows what happened."
A tribute paid by the Kenyan president
Tirop, 25, had just broken the 10 km world record a month ago in an all-female race in 30:01 seconds in Herzogenaurach (Germany).
She won bronze at the 10,000m Worlds in 2017 and 2019, and became the World Cross Country Champion in 2015. She was fourth at the 5,000m Tokyo Olympics.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta paid tribute to the champion: "It is heartbreaking, extremely unhappy and sad to lose such a promising and young athlete who, at 25, had already brought glory to our country through her exploits on the track. "
1/3 President Uhuru Kenyatta has joined Kenya's athletics fraternity in mourning Olympian Agnes Jebet Tirop who was found dead in her house in Iten town, Elgeyo Marakwet County on Wednesday.
pic.twitter.com/mGwekqOAad
- State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) October 13, 2021
"Her death is all the more difficult to take as Agnes, the heroine of Kenya, was the victim of a cowardly and selfish criminal act," he laments in a statement.
With AFP
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