Kenya: Tribute to a Marathon Champion Gone Too Soon
By Staff Writer
NYAHURURU---Samuel Kamau Wanjiru fondly known as Sammy met his untimely death when he supposedly jumped off the balcony of the top floor of his home in Nyahururu, central Kenya. The incident happened late on Sunday, May 15 said the police today.
Barely 25 years old, the young budding and promising star shot into the limelight for his marathon debut at Fukuoka Marathon on December 2, 2007, winning it impressively with a course record of 2:06:39. He started 2008 by winning the Zayed International Half Marathon and receiving a prize of US $300,000. In the 2008 London Marathon, he came in second, breaking 2:06 for the first time. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wanjiru won the marathon gold medal in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32, smashing the previous record of 2:09:21 set by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in the 1984 Olympics. He was the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. Wanjiru was mentored by Stephen Ndungu, a marathoner and a peace maker.
Wanjiru specialized in long distance running. He started running at the age of 15. In 2002 he moved to Japan and went to Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Sendai, from where he graduated in 2005. He then joined the Toyota Kyūshū athletics team; coached by 1992 Olympic marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita .Wanjiru was awarded the 2005 Kenyan Most Promising Sportsman of the Year award.
The following year, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon, running the fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. Wanjiru is also the first male runner from Kenya to win Gold in this event. He won the 2008 Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award .He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury.
The injuries can be said to be the end of his rocky life. Lady luck had not been smiling down at the 24 year old athlete. This is as a result of the series of incidents that have followed him. In December 2010 he was purported to have threatened his wife, Triza Njeri as well as his security guard and was consequently charged with threatening to kill his wife and for illegal possession of an AK-47 assault rifle.
In January of 2011, Wanjiru suffered minor injuries in a car crash. In that incident, he had swerved to avoid an oncoming truck, hit a pot hole and rolled his vehicle. In March 2011 though, Njeri, his wife, withdrew her accusation against her husband of attempted murder in court, saying that the couple had since reconciled. The sports hero was set to appear before a Nyahururu court on May 23 where he is charged with being in possession of an illegal fire arm. His death is surrounded by mystery whether it was suicide or if he jumped out of rage, or what caused him to fall to the ground. Relatives found him lying on the concrete floor bleeding through the mouth and ears. Police said there was a quarrel between the runner and his wife Njeri moments before he leaped to his death.
According to the police, the 2008 Beijing Olympic champion died from injuries sustained after jumping from top floor of his home in Nyahururu town at about 1am local time. News of the death spread like bushfire in the town and by the morning many people among them athletes had thronged the Nyahururu district hospital mortuary where the body was lying.
Nyandarua police chief Jasper Ombati said Wanjiru had come home at 11pm with a female friend after a social evening before the wife unexpectedly showed up moments later. Mr Ombati said the runner was pronounced dead on arrival at the Nyahururu district hospital where he had been rushed by relatives.
“Doctors at the district hospital tried to resuscitate him in vain,” said Mr Ombati.
His female friend was being held at Nyahururu police station where she is helping police with investigations. The wife and a guard also recorded statements.
"I can confirm that Wanjiru is dead," Ombati told reporters.
Ombati said police were investigating a possible love triangle that could have been behind the death of Wanjiru. Ombati said Njeri, his wife and Wanjiru's female companion are assisting police in investigating the death.
Africa and Kenya in particular has lost a great man. Wanjiru was a husband, a father, a brother, a sportsman and a role model to aspiring athletes. He etched a legacy that will be a living memory of the fallen hero.