Kenyan athletes are among the best long-distance and middle-distance runners on the planet, but their successes often hide serious mental health problems, tragically illustrated by recent deaths.
Winning to live and support your family: the circle is vicious and leads to doping, addictions and violence for some of the star athletes in this East African country.
Since 2017, more than 80 Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned for doping, according to the World Athletics Integrity Unit: once suspended, they face a sharp drop in their income leading to financial, physical and mental difficulties for several years.
On October 6, Kipyegon Bett, an 800-meter bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, died in hospital in his hometown of Kericho, western Kenya, from kidney and liver failure. by alcohol. He was only 26 years old.
“Entered into depression”
Bett, one of Kenya’s most promising middle-distance runners, was handed a four-year ban in 2018 after testing positive for EPO.
“He became depressed and started drinking heavily,” his grieving sister, Purity Kirui, told AFP.
Bett, she assures, had ignored his family’s calls to return to training after his suspension ended in 2022. As a result, he failed to return to a high level.
The same day his death was announced, the body of steeplechase runner Clement Kemboi was found some 250 kilometers away in Iten, the famous high-altitude training center in western Kenya.
“We cannot ignore that there is a problem,” Barnaba Korir, a member of the executive committee of Athletics Kenya, the athletics federation, told AFP. “Recent deaths show that athletes face major challenges, including financial and mental health issues. »
“Alarming” situation
In the wake of these deaths, Julius Yego, javelin silver medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games, called for measures to better protect Kenyan athletes.
“The issue of the mental health of athletes suspended for doping is alarming,” he told AFP. “These athletes feel isolated and have had to fight their problems literally alone, without any support from Athletics Kenya or their former managers and coaches. »
Yego himself is in contact with a former long-distance runner in serious difficulty after a four-year suspension.
The deaths of Bett and Kemboi came as Kenya’s tight-knit athletic community was already reeling from the loss of three other athletes. Also in October, famous marathon runner Samson Kandie, 53, was killed in a brutal attack, and in September another marathon runner, Willy Kipruto Chelewa, was found dead.
The circumstances of the deaths remain under investigation and four people, including Samson’s wife Kandie, appeared in court this week.
But in a country where a third of the 52 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, athletes’ income makes them targets of attacks, Asbel Kiprop, Olympic 1,500m champion in 2008, told AFP today. ‘retired today.
“It is tragic to see that this phenomenon is spreading. Athletes need to be more vigilant,” he notes, citing the case of Kandie, who was fatally attacked in front of her house in Eldoret.
Kiprop, who now works as a police officer, believes that being part of law enforcement is often the only way for athletes to ensure their safety. “Otherwise, good personal discipline is essential,” he says.
