Eye to eye, without blinking, Joan Chelimo talks about the ” sea of blood ” which has haunted her memories since October 13, 2021. The 32-year-old Kenyan marathon runner was resting at her home in the small town of Iten after an endurance session when she was bombarded with phone calls. Her friend Agnes Tirop, with whom she used to train, has just been found dead in her living room.
A few weeks earlier, the champion had easily broken the world record for the 10 kilometer road race. Refusing to believe the terrible news, Joan Chelimo rushes to her friend’s home, a small brick house, in front of which a crowd of onlookers is already gathering. Feverish, she makes her way to the window. Joan Chelimo sees the body lying on the ground. Agnes Tirop was hit in the head with a spade and stabbed in the neck.
“All of a sudden, it’s as if the night had swallowed me up. I almost fainted “, says the runner. The next day, the police arrest the alleged murderer: the husband of Agnes Tirop, who confesses before retracting. The news is like an electric shock for Joan Chelimo. The one who won the Seoul marathon in 2022 then decides to lead a new fight, for her friend. “This story of domestic violence is that of a whole bunch of runners around here. Maybe because I knew her and she was famous, it woke me up. I was determined to fight so that there were no more Agnes. »
Behind the scenes for runners
Lost in the lush and steep immensity of the high plateaus of the Kerio Valley in western Kenya, Iten is a kingdom, that of the masters of international long-distance running. It is in the decor of this discreet capital with its sheet metal roofs and its shops selling vegetables, electronic equipment and odds and ends that they perfect their stride. On the surrounding paths, there are dozens of them, alone or in groups, to ride every day in a cloud of laterite, the red earth of the region. But there is also the other side of the decor for the runners.
“Since women have been successful, men have approached them to try to take advantage of it. They are the masters of their careers. How many times have I found myself fighting with guys who wanted to get involved in everything…”, sighs Jean-Paul Fourier, a Belgian agent who has represented many Kenyan athletes at the highest level for thirty years. Athletes’ husbands improvise as both coaches and managers, take care of their wives’ contracts, invest their money. The husband of Agnes Tirop had thus managed to put in his sole name the land that the runner had bought.
You have 81.94% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.