Conseslus Kipruto: Why Kenya’s millionaire athletes…most of them cops, can’t handle women!

Rudisha, Asbel Kiprop, Kemboi are police officers with troubled affairs, and so was the late marathoner Samuel Wanjiru

**Spiked lap:** Conseslus Kipruto with lawyer Joshua Lang’at at Kapsabet Law Courts where the Olympic champion denied defiling a minor in Nandi County. Kipruto hasn’t competed this season. He withdrew from the Diamond League in Monaco this August after contracting coronavirus-whose lockdown has ruined careers. He faces 15 years in jail if found guilty.

By Idris ‘Shoes’ Lule

Contributing editor/sports

Millionaire Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto could just spike his career after being arraigned in court for eloping and having ‘field events’ with a 15 year old Form Two student at Chemusai village, Nandi County.

Kipruto, the 3000m Steeplechase world record holder, denied the defilement charges and was released on a Sh200, 000 cash bail.

Kipruto faces at least 15 years in jail if found guilty. It is not the first time Kenya’s elite sportsmen-most of them police officers- are undergoing run-in after having laps with a woman:

David Rudisha was divorcing wife a month after birth of their third child

**False start:** David Rudisha, the two-time 800m Olympic champion, has since lost the 12 kilos he had added and his drinking almost got the better of him. It was pressure from domestic tiffs and ‘to release it I’d often hang out with friends, partying too much…during periods like that, you look for a bit of destruction to distract yourself.’

David Rudisha is a police inspector. But the track icon has been fighting many battles: a divorce, tendon injuries, weight, over drinking. During a head on collision with a bus at night in Kilgoris last year, Rudisha’s car was a write-off and “to come out without a single scratch was just like a miracle. I feel like God still loves me.”

**Starting blocks:** Domestically, matters came to a head when it emerged that David Rudisha could have been ‘bending the petticoat’ of Samantha Tungoi, niece of his long-term pacesetter, Sammy Tangui. Elizabeth, whom Rudisha married in a traditional Maasai wedding in 2010, even confronted Samantha on the streets of Eldoret over the matter. Naanyu wrote on her social media pages: ‘David Lekuta Rudisha stop frustrating me with my kids. To my family, my heart is heavy I can’t hold anymore. I love u all.’

His name means “come back” but few blows came knocking for the now 31 year old than divorcing Elizabeth Naanyu in 2016, a month after the birth of their third child. Liz had made trips to Nigeria “to tame him” but it was later revealed she had sought prayers from Pastor TB Joshua. Rudisha could hear none of it. Domestic fights ensued. More injuries.

Asbel Kiprop’s mpango was the wife of his training partner

**Best kick forward:** Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop’s wife left and posted on her Facebook page: ‘To let go isn’t to forget, not to think about, or ignore. It doesn’t leave feelings of anger, jealousy or regret. Letting go isn’t winning, and it isn’t losing. It’s not about pride, and it’s not about how you appear, and it’s not obsessing or dwelling on the past (sic).’

Asbel Kiprop is a police officer. The former 1500m Olympic champion was facing a four year ban for doping since 2017. There were allegations of attempts to bribe anti-doping officers in 2019 when Kiprop revealed his financial transactions to prove otherwise: He had sent estranged wife, Sammary Cherotich Sh1.7 million via MPesa.

His mpango wa kando, Nancy Jerotich, was not forgotten. She received Sh1 million, but explained: “I am a travel consultant and all the transactions from Asbel to my mobile number are for booking of flights.”

**Jumping the gun:** Asbel Kiprop with Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai. Of all members of Kenya Police, the traffic cop is the least likely to shoot the boss or fellow colleagues. They also rarely commit suicide or kill spouses according to medics at the Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital. The reason is that their jobs (and accompanying bribes) provide them with high motivation to live! The General Service Unit (GSU) who are trained to maim and even kill rarely shoot fellow cops or commit suicide. The same is not the case with regular police and the baddest of them all, the Administration Police, who are the most likely to shoot their superiors before turning guns on themselves.

Nancy was the wife of Kiprop’s training partner and pacesetter, Andrew Rotich Chepsiya. Philandering details saw Sammary, a former 3000m world junior champion packing her bags. A stressed Kiprop asked the National Police on Twitter to dismiss him “before I use their own machinery to earn justice.” Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai met Kiprop and urged officers to “share what we are going through” to avoid cases of officers killing themselves. “I am personally following up on Kiprop’s case.”

Ezekiel Kemboi paid butcher lover over Sh4 million to drop the case

**Water jump:** A magistrate granted Ezekiel Kemboi bail to compete in the 2012 London Olympics,where he won his second gold medal. Research indicates that societies are lenient on elite athletes due to their talent and social stature. Plea bargains, false accusations, and dropped charges are other factors that can affect the conviction rates of elite athletes involved in domestic violence and sexual assault cases. They also have cash to hire top-notch lawyers.

Ezekiel Kemboi, a police officer, is a husband to two breathing wives. The greatest steeplechaser of all time was in 2012 charged with stabbing Anne Njeri Otieno, the former butchery owner turned lover, after allegedly declining his advances. Kemboi alleged that Njeri had colluded with a gang to rob him at night when she wa stabbed in the skirmish. Njeri later dropped the charges after experiencing suffering after being ostracized for bringing a case against a track hero.”

**Pacesetter:** Anne Njeri Otieno, Ezekiel Kemboi’s butcher lover, revealed ‘Kemboi paid me over Sh4 million to drop the case. He also threw in a two-week trip to Dubai. We had a thing…but eventually broke it off when it became obvious that we had completely opposite personalities.’ Njeri had accused Kemboi of attempting to force himself on her. ‘Elite athletes are more likely to view women as objects and, therefore, feel entitled to them as sexual objects,’ according to research.

In a 2002 journal publication on athletes and women researchers Brown, Nocera, and Sumner found that athletes with higher levels of aggression on the field combined with more conservative attitudes toward women, resulted in higher levels of sexual aggression.

Samuel Wanjiru had three women claiming him, even in death

**Photo-finish:** Marathoner Samuel Wanjiru and his wife, Triza Njeri whom had sued him over threatening her using AK-47 assault rifle. American Nicole K. Repetto in her 2016 study titled, *Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Elite Athletes: Analyzing Arrest and Conviction Rate,* revealed that ‘elite athletes were more likely to get arrested than non-athletes but non-athletes were more likely to go on and get convicted.’

Marathoner Samuel Wanjiru was arraigned in court for threatening Triza with an AK-47 assault rifle in 2010-three months after winning the Chicago marathon.

But Sammy died in May 15, 2011 after a night of binge drinking with barmaids in Nyahururu town. Sammy’s wife, Triza Njeri-a former beautician- had caught him pants down in bed with another woman, Jane Nduta. A tiff ensued. Njeri locked them from outside. Sammy then fell from the balcony of his mansion and doctor’s couldn’t revive him. Though the 24 year old had threatened suicide before, it was never clear whether Sammy was thrown out the window or it was an accident.

**Final lap:** Being a cop, Samuel Wanjiru received a 21-gun salute during his burial at his farm in Heshima Village in Nyahururu on June 11. Most athletes are regular police. Athletes in the military rarely have escalated domestic issues like cops.

Shortly, two other women, Mary Wacera and Judy Wambui, emerged claiming they were his wives. Wacera had a child with Sammy while Wambui said she was five months paged with his child. She demanded a paternity test before burial. It was granted by the Nakuru court. Wambui named her son Samuel Jonnes Kamau-after Sammy!