Uganda's Benjamin Kiplagat competes in the Men's 3000m Steeplechase Round 1 during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Ugandan athlete Benjamin Kiplagat has been found dead in Kenya, police said on December 31, 2023, with local media reports saying he had been murdered.FABRICE COFFRINI/Getty Images
Police in Kenya are investigating the slaying of three-time Ugandan Olympian Benjamin Kiplagat, whose body was found with stab wounds inside his brother’s car on Sunday morning, a local official said.
Kiplagat had been driving the car before his body was discovered in the vehicle on the outskirts of Eldoret, a town located 312 kilometers (163 miles) west of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, according to Stephen Okal, police commander from the nearby Moiben area.
“This was murder, but we do not know the motive for now,” Okal said.
As a long-distance runner, Kiplagat specialized in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He represented Uganda in six World Athletics Championships and at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
He reached the semi-finals of the 2012 London Olympics.
Athletics Kenya official Barnabas Korir mourned the athlete’s death.
“We urge the police to speed up investigations and ... book his killers,” Korir said.