Eliud Kipchoge Opens Up On Being Cyberbullied After Kelvin Kiptum's Death

Legendary marathoner Eliud Kipchoge was on Tuesday, May 7 reduced to tears as he narrated the torrid experience amidst a vicious campaign of online abuse that wrongfully linked him to the death of Kelvin Kiptum.

Kipchoge, who spoke during an interview with BBC Sports, alleged to have received death threats from users on social media, something he termed as a nightmare in his entire life.

In particular, some netizens claimed that Kipchoge was part of a conspiracy to kill Kiptum, who had won the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35, causing an upset by breaking the world record set by the two-time Olympic champion.

Eliud Kipchoge crying during an interview with BBC which was aired on May 7, 2024. /BBC

"I was shocked that people [on] social media platforms are saying 'Eliud is involved in the death of this boy'," the 39-year-old narrated, adding "That was the worst news ever in my life."

"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 would go on to reveal that on seeing the abuse and false rumours circulating social media, his first instinct was to check if his family was safe.

He noted that he didn't have the power to go to the police and inform them about the threats to his life, thus his concern was the well-being of his family, whom he told to be extra conscious...and cautious.

"I started to call a lot of people. 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'," he added.

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. She told me 'Just take care' and 'A lot has been going on'," he went on.

"Where I come from is a local area. And with the age of my mum, I realised that social media can go everywhere. But she gave me courage. It was a tough month."

However, Kipchoge opted not to take precautions for his safety, including changing training venues owing to his open life.

He also alleged to have "lost about 90%" of his friends amid the wrongful link to Kiptum's accident and online abuse.

As a result, 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, arguing that he had nothing to hide and didn't do anything wrong.

However, he believes the social media abuse affected his performance in competition. Kipchoge came 10th in the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, 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. It was my worst ever position," he continued.

Despite the setback, he was named to Kenya's marathon team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and is aiming for redemption by becoming the first athlete to win three Olympic marathon golds following his successes at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.