MOSORIOT, Kenya, Oct 23 – In honor of the slain Kenyan athletics heroine Agnes Tirop, female elite runners have announced plans to set up a foundation to fight Gender Based Violence among athletes.
Kenyan 1500m Olympian Viola Langat, who said the foundation will be named after Agnes Tirop, made the announcement Saturday during the funeral service of the 2015 World Cross Country champion who was killed by her lover on October 14 at her home in Iten in a suspected homicide.
Viola said the foundation will address the domestic violence that is on the rise among the Kenyan female athletes so that they can be assisted in overcoming gender violence in their relationships.
“We are laying our sister to rest but we are also here to raise our voices, we need to be heard as women, we need people to understand that we are not anyone’s property, yes we are married to them but we are someone’s daughter, please respect us, men please love us, please value our hard work,” Viola Lagat lamented.
Viola, who is based in the USA, urged leadership at the community and county level to champion for an end to such killings.
“Women representatives in parliament you have let us down, you are only vocal in women politics but silent when it comes to women gender-based violence issues, have you created any seminar to reach out to these victims of domestic violence? do you understand the root cause of what we are going through every single day? there are many who suffer in silence, it is only that Tirop’s case came up, but what you are doing is sitting and watching,” she added.
She further challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta and parliamentarians to enact the laws that will protect women athletes from exploitation and also establish a state funded insurance to help educate students who were supported by Tirop.
On her part, 2007 world 800m champion, Janeth Jepkosgei disclosed that there are a lot of young female athletes who are suffering in silence, outlining that Tirop’s untimely death is an eye opener.
“It’s just the other day that myself and the women athlete representative Mary Keitany agreed to start a women athlete association to guide ourselves, it is unfortunate Agnes’ death came before we started but we are going to start,” Jepkosgei said.
She added, “Our retired athletes there is a gap between ourselves and the young ones, we were together until 2014 when we lost touch, please let us close that gap, let Agnes’ death be an eye opener and a lesson.”
She challenged Athletics Kenya to ensure that whenever Team Kenya goes outside to represent the country, a senior female athlete should be named to accompany them so that they can be guided and protected from opportunists.
“Our female athlete run when they are young and get money when they are young and that is why we are getting this problem. I was a captain for team Kenya for 8 years and it saddens me to see our young female athletes lose track,” Jepkosgei who was famously known as ‘Eldoret Express’ said.
Meanwhile, Athletics Kenya announced that the Kenyan leg of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour which will be held in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County in February next year will be named after the late Agnes Tirop.
“This phenomenon is about mental and gender issues and it must be approached in a multi-agency activity, so that we save this situation, and immediately after this we are going to set up a task force for athletes only to see what are the challenges they go through because unless they understand the challenges, they go through then we will continue having this problem,” Athletics Kenya boss Jackson Tuwei stated.
Sports CS Amina Mohamed said; “I would like to thank President Uhuru Kenyatta, for his interest in this matter, and specifically, for sending out an investigatory team to help us piece together, the last moments of Agnes’s life.”
“I have also expanded the mandate of the Ministerial Committee on Gender Welfare in Sports, to include the case of Agnes, and to present to me its report next week. We will thereafter, hold the Agnes Tirop press conference, in her honor, and present the findings of the taskforce to the public.”
-Somber mood-
Tirop, who was buried donning the Kenyan kit was laid to rest by Kenyan Olympians who were accompanied by a team of 15 Ugandan athletes led by Olympic Champion in 5000m and World Record Holder Joshua Cheptegei and Olympic 3000m steeplechase gold medalist Peruth Chemutai.
Among the current and past Kenyan athletes who braved the heavy rains in Mosoriot are 800m World Record Holder David Rudisha, 3000m steeplechase king Ezekiel Kemboi, 3000m steeplechase World Record Holder Beatrice Chepkoech, Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist (3000m steeplechase) Hyvin Kiyeng, double 1500m Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, 5000m Olympic silver medalist Hellen Obiri, Asbel Kiprop, marathoner Amos Kipruto, Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and Javelin star Julius Yego among others.
Until her demise, Tirop held the 10km world record that she smashed a month before meeting her death, she also won gold in 2015 World Cross Country, won back-to-back 10,000m world bronze medals at the 2017 and 19 respectively and was also a Senior World Cross Country team gold medalist (2017 Kampala)
