Her last rites were performed on the day she turned 26. The mourners, including fellow athletes, lined up to scatter flowers on a white coffin. A picture of Tirope, smiling and holding a bronze medal, was placed on top of the coffin.
“For us Kenyans, the Kenyans have lost a hero,” said Helen Obiri, women’s 5,000m world champion and mentor from Tirope. “I told him that in 2022, he had to go and defend my title and represent our country,” Obiri said, with tears welling up in his eyes.
Police arrested Tirope’s husband, Ibrahim Rotich, in the coastal city of Mombasa last week, and has been arrested on suspicion of his murder. Neither Rotich nor his representatives have made any public comment on the matter.
Last month, Tirop broke the only 10km world record for women in Germany. She won bronze medals in the 10,000 meters at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
Tirope grew up in a humble farming family in the Kenyan Highlands in Nandi County. Her talent for running became evident in the fourth grade, when she won a cross-country race and she soon entered the international junior race and won. Since then his career was progressing.
After his murder, the police found an athletics trophy in his house, which he had not yet opened.
“A disciplined, humble athlete … I don’t know. I don’t know what to say,” said coach Julius Kirva.
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