Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop, a two-times World Championship bronze medallist, was found stabbed to death at her home, Athletics Kenya said on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old represented Kenya in the 5,000m event at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fourth in the finals.
“Tirop was found dead at their home in Iten after she was allegedly stabbed by her husband. We are still working to unearth more details surrounding her demise,” Athletics Kenya said in a statement.
Local police said Tirop’s husband was a suspect.
“We received a message from the family of Tirop’s husband that the husband had phoned the parents while crying and asking that God forgive him as there is something bad he had done,” Tom Makori, Keiyo North Sub County Police Commander, told the private-owned NTV Kenya Television.
Athletics Kenya addressed her death in a statement.
“Athletics Kenya are this afternoon distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medalist Agnes Tirop,” the statement reads. “Kenya has lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track.”
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta mourned the loss of “a Kenyan hero.”
“It is unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad that we’ve lost a young and promising athlete,” Kenyatta said in a statement. “It is even more painful that Agnes, a Kenyan hero by all measures, painfully lost her young life through a criminal act perpetrated by selfish and cowardly people.”
