Everything about Joan Rotich, the athlete who went viral on social media last week with claims that her boyfriend stole her property worth Sh11 million, points to the fact that she is in distress.
From suffering a potential career-ending injury that has kept her out of competition for four years, suffering depression, and, in her own words, “losing property worth Sh11 million”, the athlete describes her experience as “a living hell.”
After planning every detail of our meeting for days, we met at a petrol station at Ngong, Kajiado County, and she looked distressed for the whole duration of our meeting.
We crossed the road and took a narrow rough road that led us behind some buildings, past a black metallic gate into a bushy compound with an old colonial house camouflaged in layers of ivy plant, adding to its neglected feel. It is clear that it has been days since the compound was cleaned.
Rotich goes ahead of me and attempts to push open the door, which only opens ajar. We have to literally squeeze ourselves past the door.
There is poor lighting in the house, but we try to make ourselves comfortable. Rotich then makes way her way to the bedroom to fish out some trophies and medals from races she has won in the past. They are covered in dust. Due to poor lighting which could affect photography, we step out to do the interview.
“It’s been long time since I paraded these trophies, and I think this should signify a fresh start for me. Maybe, I am cleaning out the problems in my life,” the mother of one who celebrated her 37th birthday on Christmas eve says.
She embraced athletics in 2011 after completing her secondary school education at Talai High School in Baringo County.
“I have gone through hell since I sustained a tendon injury in 2020, and making a comeback has been difficult.
“I slumped into depression since I didn’t and I still don’t have money for purchasing air tickets to enable me attend races abroad so as to earn a living and pay my rent,” she says.
Nancy Joan Rotich displays some of her trophies during the interview at her home in Ngong on January 31, 2025.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation
Her athletics career started in 2011 when she picked up running from her cousin, the legendary distance runner Paul Tergat. She had just completed her secondary school education at Talai High School Baringo.
Rotich makes herself comfortable as her mind races dates back to a time when she competed abroad and won races, to now “when I have lost it all”.
According to data from World Athletics, Rotich ran her first race, the Venlo Venloop Half Marathon, on March 27 in the Netherlands, finishing fourth. Her final race was Taiyuan International Marathon in China on September 8 in China.
After competing in two half marathon races and three 10km road races in 2011, Rotich ventured into the full marathon which promised better income.
She finished eighth in the 2011 Standards Chartered Nairobi Marathon on October 30, 2011, clocking two hours, 41 minutes and 43 seconds. She won three marathon races the following year, triumphing in 2012 Salzburg Marathon (2:36:08) in Austria, 2012 Munster Marathon (2:38:13) in Germany, and 2012 Metz Marathon (2:38:13) in France.
In 2013, she competed in four marathon races, finishing second in Münster and Linz Marathon races, but won 2013 Athens Marathon, and 2023 Kisumu Safaricom Marathon, where she beat 2020 Olympic marathon Peres Jepchirchir, among others.
One of her best paying races, the 2015 Taipei Marathon, which she won to pocket Sh2.6 million prize money, and 2017 Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon where she earned Sh750,000 for her fourth-placed finish.
Nancy Joan Rotich gestures during the interview at her home in Ngong on January 31, 2025.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation
“I pocketed more than Sh7 million from all these races, but I have nothing to show for it. My boyfriend took everything,” she says, tears welling in her eyes. She is bitter about the turn her athletics career has taken.
She claims that one of her two managers, who is a Kenyan, relocated from the country with close to Sh400,000 belonging to her.
“The manager I had from Germany was good but we parted ways in 2016 because he had set a condition for me to attain a personal best time of just under two hours and 30 minutes. I had a personal best of 2:33:56,” Rotich says, adding that Athletics Kenya blacklisted the manager.
She fears for her life after exposing her boyfriend, who went missing after she demanded to be told where some of the investments she had entrusted him to make on her behalf were.
Joan has reported the matter at Ngong Police Station under OB Number 73/31/1/2025. She wants her boyfriend to return the assets he purchased using proceeds from the races she participated in abroad.
She has also sought help from Athletics Kenya’s gender office. Athletes Welfare Initiative – Kenya, a Ngong-based organisation which assists with welfare of runners, has also taken up her case.
Nancy Joan Rotich displays some of her trophies during the interview at her home in Ngong on January 31, 2025.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation
“I first met him (the boyfriend) in 2013, but we haven’t been living together. I gave him all the money I collected from the races I competed in from 2013 to 2019,” Rotich says, adding that the relationship went south after she demanded the logbooks of two tour vans that her boyfriend had purchased using her savings.
Rotich claims that while she was competing abroad in 2015, she wired Sh2 million to her boyfriend for purchasing a tour van, and gave him an additional Sh650,000 in 2017 as her contribution towards the purchase of a second tour van on a cost-sharing basis.
“He then lured me to help him build a house under the pretext that we would stay in it after settling down as a couple. I wired to him close to a million shillings for that…I am not able to state exactly how much but I have the records for that, in addition to those for many other transactions,” Rotich, who regrets trusting her boyfriend blindly, says.
“He went quiet on me in 2020 when I demanded to see the motor vehicle logbooks, and to be taken home to visit the house he had constructed using my money. That is when I realised everything had gone down the drain,” she says. From then, she slumped into depression.
Rotich says that her boyfriend would send her Sh100 or Sh200, and give her empty promises that he would refund all the money she had given him.
“That showed how the man despised me and our relationship,” she says.
Directorate of Criminal Investigation officers attached to Ngong Police Station have confirmed that she reported the matter to them, and requested for more documents to assist with investigations.
“Since they had a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, it can amount to stealing,” a DCI officer who sought anonymity said.
"We are handling many similar cases touching on athletes, and some are sensitive," the officer revealed.
Sofia Hjert, a former Swedish distance runner and Samson Nyamweya from Athletes Welfare Initiative-Kenya, said they assist in training athletes on financial literacy, anti-doping and dealing with gender-based violence.
"This is a society empowerment programme for athletes that we have started. We are already having a course, and Joan is among our students. There are others with similar challenges," Hjert says, adding that they have brought on board partners from Sweden.
