Kelvin Kiptum, the athlete who is being buried on Friday in a small village in western Kenya, is remembered by those who loved him as a joker – as well as a young man with incredible drive, determined to help those who sacrificed so much for him to be able to break the marathon world record last year.
The 24-year-old’s death in a road accident nearly two weeks ago on his way home has devastated the farming community in Chepsamo village.
“He was always joking – we spoke on the night of his death and he was joking about the Africa Cup of Nations final,” his mother Mary Kangongo told the BBC.
The match was being played in Abidjan, with hosts Ivory Coast surprising many by beating Nigeria to take the title.
“He told me that I should support Nigeria but I told him I wouldn’t be watching football as it was on too late,” she said.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, his grief-stricken mother was admitted to hospital for several days.
BBC
He was loving and caring, a man who liked to tell jokes”Asenath Rotich
Kelvin Kiptum’s widow
Now back home, she tells me in a softly spoken voice reminiscent of her son: “He was a simple, humble boy, you’d never know he was a world-record holder who had made some money. He always helped and supported the community.”
His widow Asenath Rotich agrees with her mother-in-law: “I remember him most for his jokes… he was loving and caring, a man who liked to tell jokes.”
She also lives in Chepsamo with their two children, saying Kiptum doted on his seven-year-old son and four-year-old daughter.
“He’d arrive home on the weekend, and they’d spend the whole time together until he returned to camp,” Ms Rotich told the BBC. Like most athletes in Kenya, Kiptum spent the week at a training camp – his was in the nearby town of Chepkorio.
On the main road about a few kilometres from his village there is a roadside memorial with a framed picture of the athlete and some fresh flowers.
Nailed to the tree hit by his car on the night of Sunday 11 February is a board renaming the street “Kiptum Road”.
People passing by often stop their journey to pay their respects. Most here remember him as a jovial and generous man.
Kiptum was inspired to become an athlete by a cousin who was a pacemaker – this area in Kenya’s Rift Valley region is famous for producing some of the world’s greatest long-distance runners.
His widow also puts his determination to succeed down to his parents.
He entered his first major race five years ago at the age of 18, competing in borrowed shoes. Last October he took 34 seconds off the marathon record time in Chicago – his final race.
“He was very dedicated to athletics,” Ms Rotich said. “I would tell him: ‘Rest today, don’t go for training,’ but he’d say: ‘I am working hard to make our lives better and our kids happy.'”
This discipline and drive can be gleaned from Kiptum’s father, Samson Cheruiyot, who spoke to the BBC outside a house where he lives with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
“I worked burning charcoal to make sure that he had everything he needed, and his mother would shop for second-hand shoes for him,” he said.
“There are days we slept on floors while travelling for local races just so we could survive.
“He promised that once he succeeded, we would be comfortable. But now he is gone,” he said about his only child.
The athlete’s generosity was not reserved just for his family – the London and Chicago marathon champion wanted to change the lives of other ambitious athletes.
Source ; BBC
