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Kenyan Olympic marathon champion dies: police

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-17 07:54

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru died in a fall from a balcony after a domestic dispute involving his wife and another woman, police said on Monday.

One police official said Wanjiru committed suicide, while another said he jumped to stop his wife from leaving the house after she discovered him with another woman.

The 24-year-old runner died late on Sunday after jumping from a balcony at his home in the town of Nyahururu, in the Rift Valley, said John Mbijiwe, the police chief in Kenya's Central province.

"The fact of the matter is that Wanjiru committed suicide," said national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere also said initial reports indicated Wanjiru killed himself, though a local official offered a different account.

"Wanjiru came home with another woman friend at around 11:30 pm and then when his wife came home and found them she inquired who the lady was," area police chief Jasper Ombati said. "They got into an argument. His wife locked them in the bedroom and ran off.

"He then jumped from the bedroom balcony. He is not here to tell us what he was thinking when he jumped. We do not suspect foul play. In our estimation, we think he wanted to stop his wife from leaving the compound."

Ethiopian distance running great Haile Gebrselassie, a two-time Olympic 10,000-meter champion and world record-holder in the marathon, said on his Twitter feed he was "totally shocked" by the news.

"My thoughts are with his family and all his friends and colleagues," Gebrselassie said.

"Of course, one wonders if we as an athletics family could have avoided this tragedy," he said.

American marathon runner Ryan Hall posted on Twitter: "Incredibly sad news about Sammy. I am shocked and saddened."

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wanjiru became the first Kenyan to win a gold medal in the marathon, finishing in an Olympic-record 2 hours, 6 minutes, 32 seconds.

Wanjiru became the youngest runner to win four major marathons. In addition to the Olympics, he won in London in 2009 and in Chicago in 2009 and 2010, in the process running the fastest time recorded in a marathon in the United States.

Associated Press