Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge has broken his silence on the death of fellow athlete Kelvin Kiptum.
Kipchoge says he received criticism and death threats after Kiptum’s tragic car accident.
Kiptum, the world record holder was tipped to challenge Kipchoge’s dominance in the marathon.
When news of his death broke some social media users started speculating the legendary Kipchoge had a hand in his accident.
Kipchoge in an interview with BBC, said people threatened to harm him, his family and businesses.
“I was shocked that people on social media platforms are saying ‘Eliud is involved in the death of this boy’,” he said.
The Kenyan icon said that was the worst news ever in his life.
“I received a lot of bad things; that they will burn the training camp, they will burn my investments in town, they will burn my house, they will burn my family.
“It did not happen but that is how the world is,” Kipchoge said.
Kipchoge said he was worried for his family, especially his children.
“I don’t have power to go to THE police and tell them my life is in danger. So my concern was actually to tell my family to be extra conscious and cautious, started to call a lot of people,”
“I got scared of my children going to school and coming back. Sometimes they bike around, but we had to stop them because you never know what will happen. We started to drop them off and pick them up in the evening,”
“My girl was in boarding school – that was positive that she had no access as far as social media is concerned – but it’s tough for my boys to hear ‘Your dad has killed somebody,” he said.
An emotional Kipchoge said the rumours affected his elderly mother he also revealed he lost friends and trust.
“My worst moment was when I tried to call my mum,”
“She told me ‘Just take care’ and ‘A lot has been going on,”
“Where I come from is a local area. And with the age of my mum, I realised that social media can go everywhere,”
“But she gave me courage. It was a tough month,” the Olympic champion added.
Kipchoge said his management team decided to take him off social media but he refused to delete his accounts.
