Three months after the death of Kenyan marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, new theories continue to emerge about his fateful accident on February 11 on the road to Kaptagat, a town known for being a training base for long-distance athletes in the African country and, in recent times, a favorite place for other marathon runners in the world to prepare for major events. In SportsIn we have analyzed this cruel sporting outburst that has deprived Kiptum and Eliud Kipchoge of a legendary duel at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and after the latter’s life has changed for the worse because of all the threats he is receiving. He has lost friends, fears for his family, has been attacked on social media and, as he admitted in an interview with the BBC, “I don’t trust anyone.”
Kelvin Kiptum went from absolute anonymity, where precariousness and minimal living conditions were his daily habitat, to being a world-famous star. That harsh reality in which millions of people live in extreme poverty in Kenya was not an impediment to take up challenges at an early age in the village of Chepkorio, Elgeyo Marakwet County. On those dusty dirt roads, at an altitude of more than 2,480 meters, where his eyes are lost in the horizon looking for an explanation to his reality, Kiptum nurtured his dreams of becoming a great marathon runner, like his fellow villager Geoffrey Kamworor, double winner of the New York Marathon.
Kiptum’s life from December 4, 2022, when he wins the Valencia Marathon, changes radically with a time of 2:01:53 that puts him in a place among the best times in marathon history.
THE ‘MADE IN CHINA’ OFFER
That particular marathon will be one of the big questions in the future of the Kenyan runner’s death, since during that period a Chinese sportswear company contacted him to become his official sponsor. The sum on the table was unthinkable for this young man, then 23 years old. The offer was irresistible, assuming his ignorance of how much the big sports brands really pay for an emerging figure who has much more to give in sports.
The nose of the representatives and intermediaries, who are the ones who provide information to the brands, were certain that by paying little they could have and recruit an exceptional athlete. The $100,000 figure took Kiptum’s breath away. His heart rate rose, his mind was clouded, he felt that his life and that of those around him would no longer be one of misery and poverty. He signed and accepted all the de facto and de jure conditions of a contract that in its essence he never knew or understood.
Four and a half months after the beginning of the relationship with the Qiaodan brand, in his second presentation of the London Marathon -April 23, 2023-, they realized that the marathoner was running with another brand, breaching the contract, stating tersely: “I will give them back the money because I had a better offer, they give me more money and I have a projection with them”. In the light of the facts, the Chinese did not stay still and continued talking and negotiating with the athlete’s representative, but he surprised them in October with the renowned Chicago Marathon where Kelvin Kiptum pulverized Eliud Kipchoge’s time (2:01:09) and beat him with a time of 2:00:35.
BBC interview with Kipchoge explaining his ordeal.
THE KIPCHOGE VS. KIPTUM DUEL
From October 8 last year, all eyes were focused on two marathoners from the same country, Kipchoge with to go down in the history of marathons at the Olympics and add his third consecutive gold medal (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020+1) and conquer the Palace of Versailles and finish at the Eiffel Tower. And, Kelvin Kiptum was going for another record, another mark, to go under 2:00:00 for the first time and become the best of all and add his first gold medal in an Olympic Games.
At that time, the media and the general public were openly discussing the epic final that would take place in Paris. The morbid, contrasting life stories of the two athletes, with Kipchoge preparing for his final season and Kiptum, who appeared among mortals with new times and the youth to surpass his own records. The outcome of the young marathon runner who lost his life last February at the age of 24 still leaves us in complete uncertainty. It is a real enigma, to the extent that social networks have imaginatively opened another line of conspiracy: they point directly, including threats, to the double gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge, the thesis of the most extreme and radicals, who accuse him of Kiptum’s death.
Every time I write a SportsIn editorial, I look for explanations where, sometimes, they do not exist, but I have the obligation to open my mind and reflect on plots and intrigues in sports. The first axiom is to be informed and consult all sources, independent of the trends and interests they may represent for a particular group, but also, we have limits when using some of these digital media.
THE JUDGES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS
The indiscriminate use of these social networks, in the most absolute anonymity of those who write, where it is confused with freedom of thought on a given topic, are undermining our society, we are increasingly fragile and we get carried away by the spirit of protecting the weakest, these cybernauts assume that Kipchoge “did not want Kiptum to compete in the Olympic Games in Paris because he could win legitimante, therefore, we had to get out of the way and eliminate it”.
Others, the most extreme, condemned an athlete who built his path, just like Kevin, with effort, forming his family when he was very young, with children who receive these cruel comments and far from the truth, who in life still have challenges, goals to accomplish, dreams to realize.
I wonder: what responsibility does Kipchoge have for Kiptum’s decision making and behaviors? None, but his life has become an ordeal, from feeling condemned, judged, violated in all his rights, by the mere action of confronting sports, here is no use due process, because no one has accused Kipchoge civilly, it is only in the perverted mind of some who go viral and become trend… But trend of what, of harming because I have not been able to reach that level of sporting or professional excellence.
Eliud Kipchoge on the streets of Berlin in 2023. (Michael Kuenne/PRESSCOV/Shutterstock)
Let’s go back to one of the theses that was put into orbit during the last few weeks: the father of the athlete Samson Cheruiyot stated that “before the accident there was a group of men looking for him and they refused to be identified before leaving the house. As the days went by, the police recognized that these men were people linked to the Chinese brand, who came to persuade Kelvin Kiptum to fulfill the contract and that they were willing to improve him financially. It is ruled out that these men were hired to intimidate him or threaten his life, as well as the preliminary report of the forensic doctors states that “the runner, as a result of the impact, suffered extensive fractures in the skull, there were injuries in the lungs and other parts of the body, caused by a car accident. Samples were also taken for full toxicological analysis so that we can see if there was anything that could have contributed to his death,” he said.
THE METHODS WERE UNORTHODOX, BUT…
Kelvin Kiptum, the young Kenyan marathon runner killed on February 11 in a fatal accident left many questions unanswered, but it is no less certain that there are indirectly responsible for a conduct that in the light of the facts was not up to the events, the breach of contract or going back to his former sponsor who saw him grow up in the marathon. Perhaps the methods of negotiating with one and the other at the same time was not the most orthodox, but it happens in real life and you have to be prepared for that moment.
But was it fair to ask Kelvin Kiptum to rethink his whole life in the blink of an eye? A good philosopher would say: “Lifelong learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and competencies throughout life. Unlike traditional learning that is limited to the years of formal education, lifelong learning spans all stages of life and can take place in a variety of settings, such as work, home, or community.” What did Kelvin Kiptum get out of this learning? By all indications, very little, but despite all those shortcomings and limitations, he was able to conquer and embrace his own dreams and take them to far-flung places, where running frees your soul.
