Online attack behoves Kipchoge to rethink human relation skills
Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum arrives at the finish line to win the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Illinois, in a world record time of two hours and 35 seconds on October 8, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The negativity that greeted his condolence message says so much about the relationship Kenyans have with this particular athletics star; all of it bad
- Kiptum died 128 days after shattering the men’s marathon world record, and in that time, Eliud had said nothing of his feat
- Having met him twice in person, I know that Kipchoge would never wish Kiptum any harm
Full hazmat kit, please, for the next time Eliud Kipchoge needs to put up a post on social media. Since he posted that message of condolence 10 hours after marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum died suddenly on Sunday, Kipchoge has worn all manner of accusations, insults, and insinuations, and conspiracists have had a field day putting nonexistent ones and twos together.
The negativity that greeted his condolence message says so much about the relationship Kenyans have with this particular athletics star; all of it bad. Instead of mourning the loss of a Kenyan world record holder, Kenyans on X were busy cooking Kipchoge, another marathon great. It may look like a character flaw on the side of Kenyans who threw insults at Kipchoge, and could be easily dismissed as a show of jealousy, until you look at things with an objective eye.
At only 24 and with three major honours to his name, Kiptum died at what we might call the “getting to know you” stage of his relationship with the world. It is effectively the gliding (easy) part of any relationship. To the public, young Kiptum was flawless. He was immaculate, without fault. He was young too, and had already wrestled the marathon record from Kipchoge, and looked seriously ready to run an unassisted sub-two marathon. So when he ran that 2:00:35 in Chicago in October to break the world record, Kenyans waited and waited and waited for Kipchoge, his predecessor, to offer some kind of acknowledgment. He didn’t.
Kiptum died 128 days after shattering the men’s marathon world record, and in that time, Kipchoge had said nothing of his feat. But 10 hours after his death, he composed and posted a black ode to mourn him. Isn’t there something dark about that?
Having met him twice in person, I know that Kipchoge would never wish Kiptum any harm. But it is a fact that Kiptum can't see his message of condolences, but he could have seen his congratulatory message. His error of omission stands as an elaborate demonstration of our bad culture of mourning the departed souls, while remaining silent in their success.
I doubt anybody expects Eliud to drop everything and make a spectacle of it every time a Kenyan breaks a marathon record, but by his failure to acknowledge Kiptum, he will forever be remembered as a person who proved that it is easier to weep with those who weep, than to rejoice with those who rejoice. And what legacy is that?
So I guess we are where we are. There is no disputing that this episode has been damaging for Kipchoge. Hopefully it will prompt him into an overdue rethink of his human relations skills, and push him to run even more furiously in Paris.
Kiptum was destined to shatter all times, all records, and change the history of this sport forever. Everyone knows that he would be the first to go under two hours. He would have had no rival. Three marathons, three of the best seven chronos of all time. It is a devastating loss to everyone who loves the sport. May Kiptum and Gervais Hakizimana rest in peace, and may their families find comfort in knowing that they were both shining stars. RIP Kiptum.
