Eldoret hosts cross country race in honour of Agnes Tirop
From left: Edward Zakayo, 2018 World Under-20, 5,000metres Champion, Margaret Chelimo 2019, World 5,000 metres silver medalist, Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei, Bob Verbeck, Golazo International Managing Director, Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi, who is the 5km World Record Holder, and Dorian Boulvin from Belgium, during the World Cross Country Tour, Memorial Agnes Tirop Pre-Event press conference held at Boma Inn Hotel in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County on February 11, 2022. The event will be held at Lobo Village in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County on Saturday.
What you need to know:
- An accomplished athlete, Tirop won the 2015 World Cross Country Championships senior women’s title in Guiyang, China at 19 years
- She claimed world 10,00m bronze medal in 2017 and 2019
- The 2017 and 2019 world 10,000m bronze medallist was killed just a month after she broke the women-only 10km world record at an Adidas event in Germany, with a time of 30:01, dipping 28 seconds inside the previous record
On October 13, 2021, a dark cloud fell on Iten in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. A bright light was brutally snuffed out; and a nation was left reeling in shock that reverberated far and wide.
The news struck like a bolt of lightning. Record-breaking long distance runner Agnes Tirop was no more! She was only 25. Murdered in cold blood, the star athlete’s body was found in her bedroom with stab wounds. Tirop’s estranged lover, Ibrahim Rotich, was arrested in Changamwe, Mombasa two days after her death and transferred to Eldoret. He is in police custody after denying murder charges in the High Court in Eldoret.
There was a massive outpouring of grief in Kenya and beyond. Kenyans from all walks of life, World Athletics President Seb Coe and Jamaican sprints queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were among global athletics figures who sent their messages of condolences to Tirop’s family. Several Ethiopian distance running champions, including 10,000 metres world record holder Letesenbet Gidey, expressed shock on learning of Tirop's gruesome murder.
At one moment, Kenya was basking in glory for conquering the continent and emerging the top African country on the medals’ table at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games held on July 23 July – August 8, 2021. The next moment, the country was spinning in bitter grief.
Tirop was part of the Kenyan contingent that did the country proud in Tokyo. She put up a spirited fight but lost out in the battle of titans in the women’s 5,000m race after finishing fourth. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the gold medal, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri bagged silver and Ethiopia’s Gudaf got bronze.
An accomplished athlete, Tirop won the 2015 World Cross Country Championships senior women’s title in Guiyang, China at 19 years and retained the crown two years later in Kampala, Uganda. She was the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships 10,000m bronze medallist as well as the 2012 and 2014 World Athletics Championships junior bronze medallist.
Tirop was killed just a month after she broke the women-only 10km world record at an Adidas event in Germany, with a time of 30:01 minutes, dipping 28 seconds inside the previous record.
On Saturday, the Memorial Agnes Tirop Classic World Cross Country Gold Tour will be held at Lobo Village in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. The race, which is one of the 20 events in the World Cross Country Tour that World Athletics introduced in October last year, was named in honour of the departed athlete.
The Tour has 20 events comprising 15 gold, two silver and three bronze. The Agnes Tirop race is the 12th leg of the Tour. The cream of long distance runners has descended on Eldoret to battle it out for top honours.
From left: Doreen Odhiambo CEO Kenya Academy of Sports, Miriam Opondo of Deaf Basketball Federation, Kenya National Sports Council Treasurer Charles Nyaberi, NOC-K President Paul Tergat, CS Sports Amina Mohamed and Kenya National Paralympic Committee President Agnes Oluoch after signing the declaration form for sports organisations during the Agnes Tirop gender-based violence conference at Diani Reef Hotel in Kwale County on January 19, 2022.
The global meet comes three weeks after the Ministry of Sports held a gender-based violence conference held at Diani Reef Hotel in Ukunda, Kwale County. The theme of the conference was; “Leveling the Playing Field: Gender Inclusivity in Sports”.
In July last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta had directed Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage Amina Mohamed to constitute a committee to conduct an audit and examine the challenges facing women in sports. This resulted in the CS appointing a Ministerial Committee on Gender Welfare and Equity in Sports chaired by legendary athlete Catherine Ndereba.
The committee completed its report and presented its findings to the CS during the Kwale conference named in honour of Tirop, who had become the face of gender-based violence in Kenyan sports. The conference, the first of its kind, was attended by Agnes’s parents, athletes, government dignitaries, federation officials, envoys and other sports stakeholders.
President Kenyatta said by video link that he recognises the role women play in the society and gender-based violence stifles their potential. He said the government has put resources in place to empower women. The President also said that the conference is a call to action to protect our women and girls.
Ndereba captured the mood of the conference when she delivered a passionate appeal to everyone to stand and be counted in the fight against gender-based violence.
“No more silence!” She said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she addressed a hushed crowd during her presentation.
Gender Welfare and Equity in Sports Committee chairperson, the legendary Catherine Ndereba, gives her presentation at the gender-based violence conference at Diani Reef Hotel in Kwale County on January 17, 2022.
CS Amina said it was an emotional moment for her because she knew Tirop well. She said: “This should never happen again. No other athlete should suffer and die the way Agnes did.”
National Olympic Committee of Kenya President Paul Tergat said punitive measures should be applied to perpetrators of gender-based violence.
“They should be banned from holding any position in sports. They should never represent Kenya at any sporting event. We do not want them anywhere in sports,” the legendary athlete said.
In its report, the committee found that female athletes faced major challenges such as; balancing family and sporting duties, emotional abuse and insults (during plenary discussions the athletes said that inappropriate reference was usually made to their body parts especially the bust, behind and menses), lack of equal representation (biasness in team selection based on sexual favours) and sexual abuse which has been normalised to a point where young athletes do not notice it when it happens.
Athletes have a feel of a course at Lobo Village in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County on February 11, 2022, where the Memorial Agnes Tirop World Cross Country Gold Tour, will be held on Saturday.
Athletes proposed that financial and kits support be given to both male and female athletes, corruption be eradicated, there should be increased investment in sports and introduction of investment academies, investment in professional coaches, supporting athletes to overcome injuries, fairness in selection of coaches and athletes, improved reward for athletes, mentorship and empowerment, ending of tribalism and adequate budgetary support for female athletes among others.
The committee called for deliberate and strategic action to make sports equal and fair to all, especially for girls and women who have been marginalised for long, make sports a tool for promoting gender equality, leadership and skills development as well as for promoting cohesion and preventing gender-based violence.
The committee recommended the following; countrywide training of athletes to educate them on gender equity ideals, the Sports ministry and Ministry of Education collaborate in management of junior athletes, the Sports ministry should shut all junior athletics camps and place runners in specific primary and secondary schools, develop a mechanism for the ministry to collaborate with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to enable investigations into cases of gender-based violence in sports and two-thirds gender rule be enforced immediately in federation leadership and gender balance in selection of officials for national teams.
It was resolved that women be allowed to run women’s athletics camps with the help of men and vice-versa, an Integrated Sports Management Information System be created to keep a log of all sportspersons in Kenya and a pension fund be set up for retiring sportspersons and officials. The committee said this will go a long way in curbing poverty and desperation that usually exposes athletes to exploitation.
