‘I lost about 90% of my friends due to wrongful link to Kiptum's accident’-Kipchoge
Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge says he
feared for the lives of his family during a campaign of online abuse that
wrongly linked him to the death of fellow Kenyan marathon runner Kelvin Kiptum.
Kiptum, the world record holder who looked set to
challenge Kipchoge's dominance over 26.2 miles, died aged 24 in a car crash in
February.
Some social media users began to speculate that
Kipchoge was part of a conspiracy to kill Kiptum, who had lowered the world
best to two hours, 35 seconds last October in Chicago.
"I was shocked that people [on] social media
platforms are saying 'Eliud is involved in the death of this boy'," the
39-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
"I received a lot of bad things; that they will
burn the (training) camp, they will burn my investments in town, they will burn
my house, they will burn my family.
"It did not happen but that is how the world
is."
Kipchoge's initial reaction when he saw the abuse
and false rumours was to check whether his family were safe.
"I don't have power to go to police and tell
them my life is in danger. So my concern was actually to tell my family to be
extra conscious and cautious," he said.
"I got really scared of my children going to
school and coming back.
"Sometimes they bike around, but we had to stop
them because you never know what will happen. We started to drop them [off] and
pick them [up] in the evening.
"My girl was in boarding school - that was
positive that she had no access as far as social media is concerned - but it’s
tough for my boys to hear 'Your dad has killed somebody'."
Losing
friends and trust
Kipchoge was overtaken by emotion during a candid
interview at his home in Eldoret when discussing the impact the campaign of
abuse had on his mother.
"My worst moment was (when) I tried to call my
mum," he said.
"She told me 'Just take care' and 'A lot has
been going on'.
"Where I come from is a really local area. And
with the age of my mum, I really realised that social media can go everywhere.
"But she gave me courage. It was really a tough
month."
However, Kipchoge, who became just the third person
to win successive Olympic marathons when he defended his title in Tokyo in
2021, decided not to take precautions over his own safety.
"I saw no meaning to change training venues
because my life is open," he explained.
"Our sport is not training in the gym, it is
going outside to run. I walk in the streets freely."
Kipchoge claims he "lost about 90%" of his
friends amid the wrongful link to Kiptum's accident and online abuse.
"It was really painful for me to learn even
from my own people, my training mates, those who I have contact with, and the
bad words are coming from them," he added.
An
impact on performance
Kipchoge's team decided to take the distance runner
off social media in the wake of the abuse, but he said he never considered
deleting his accounts.
"If I delete my accounts then it shows that
there is something I am hiding," he said.
"I will keep my accounts. I did not do
anything."
However, he believes the social media abuse affected
his performance in competition.
Kipchoge came 10th in the Tokyo Marathon on 3 March,
his lowest finish since his debut in 2013, crossing the line over two and a
half minutes behind the winner Benson Kipruto.
"When I was in Tokyo I had three days which I
did not sleep," he revealed.
Despite that setback he was named in Kenya's
marathon team for the Paris 2024 Olympics last Wednesday, and is now focused on
creating more history at the Games as he aims to win a third successive gold
medal.
"It's about getting up and going straight
again, to your goal," added Kipchoge, who in 2019 became the first person
to run a marathon in under two hours, albeit in controlled conditions in
Vienna.
"I want to go into history books, to be the
first human being to win back-to-back-to-back."
Cutting
down on abuse at Paris 2024
Having been on the receiving end of intimidation and
threats, Kipchoge believes social media companies are "not doing
much" to clamp down on abuse on their platforms.
"These faceless people are posting bad things
and are really dangerous," he said.
"If you report some accounts then it takes time
for them to delete those accounts.
"They should act fast, get the facts, delete
accounts. People [should] know that if you say something which is not good then
your account will be deleted."
However, Kipchoge has welcomed an announcement from
the International Olympic Committee that it plans to "respond proactively
and at scale" to safeguard athletes from online abuse during Paris 2024.
The IOC intends to use artificial intelligence,
external to help identify abusive posts and report them to social media
companies.
"I think it's actually the right
direction," he said.
"They are now stamping their authority and
their function as an organisation handling the athletes to safeguard them from
abuse."
But, for Kipchoge, it is already too late to avoid
the emotional scarring he has suffered.
"I learned that friendship cannot be
forever," he said.
"I think it's unfortunate that it happened when
I'm celebrating over 20 years in sport.
"What happened has [made] me not trust anybody. Even my own shadow, I will not trust."
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