Kenyan Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru dies after fall

• 24-year-old believed to jumped from balcony, police say • Wanjiru won in Beijing in 2008 in Olympic record time The Kenyan Olympic marathon champion, Sammy Wanjiru, died early on Monday, police have said. John Mbijiwe, the police chief in Kenya’s Central Province, said initial information indicated the 24-year-old died after jumping from a balcony at his Rift Valley home, but the death is subject to further investigation. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wanjiru became the first Kenyan to win a gold medal in the marathon, finishing in an Olympic record time of two hours, six minutes and 32 seconds. Wanjiru has had a history of domestic problems. Last December he was charged with wounding his security guard with a rifle and threatening to kill his wife and maid. He denied all charges and was released on bail. Wanjiru made an early start to his career, moving to Japan aged 15 where he attended school in Sendai – a city hard hit by this year’s tsunami – where he won some major cross country events while also competing in track competitions. Moving to Europe to advance his promising career, Wanjiru won the Rotterdam half marathon in 2005 in a world record time. He twice improved on that record before stepping up to the full marathon in 2007, back in Japan, winning the Fukuoka marathon. The following year he finished second in the London marathon, and then claimed the biggest prize of his career by taking Olympic gold in Beijing. Wanjiru became the youngest runner to win four major marathons. In addition to the Olympics, he won in London in 2009 and in Chicago in 2009 and 2010, in the process running the fastest ever time recorded in a marathon in the United States. Athletics Kenya Africa guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.