Kenyan Olympian Found Dead, Husband Is Suspect in Stabbing

Agnes Tirop was a two-time World Athletics Championships bronze medalist, an Olympian and a world-record holder.

Kenyan distance runner and Olympian Agnes Tirop was found dead in her home in western Kenya on Wednesday. Tirop was a two-time world championship bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters and finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics. She was 25 years old. 

Tirop was discovered after her father reported her missing Tuesday night. Her husband is missing and Kenyan police are treating him as a suspect. 

"When [police] got in the house, they found Tirop on the bed and there was a pool of blood on the floor," Tom Makori, head of police for the area, told reporters. "They saw she had been stabbed in the neck, which led us to believe it was a knife wound, and we believe that is what caused her death. Her husband is still at large, and preliminary investigations tell us her husband is a suspect because he cannot be found. Police are trying to find her husband so he can explain what happened to Tirop."

Tirop also had stab wounds in her stomach, according to the BBC. 

On Sept. 12, she broke the world record for the women's 10K road race with a time of 30:01 during a race put on by her sponsor Adidas in Germany. She last competed on Oct. 3, when she finished second in a 10K road race in 30:20 in Switzerland.

Tirop was well respected and admired in her country's athletic community. In addition to her success on the track and roads, she won the 2015 cross-country world championships gold medal.

"Athletics Kenya are distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop," the country's athletics body said in a statement. "We are still working to unearth more details surrounding her demise. Kenya has lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage, thanks to her eye-catching performances on the track."