KENYA:A former Kenyan Olympic athlete has been murdered in an apparent revenge attack in the western town of Eldoret, the capital of world distance running.
Lucas Sang, who ran in the 4x400m relay at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, was attacked by a gang of men as he walked home with friends on Tuesday night.
Eldoret has seen some of the worst violence since the general election last week. Youths from the Kalenjin ethnic group, who claim to be supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga, have clashed with Kikuyus, whom they accuse of voting for President Mwai Kibaki. Like most of Kenya's best runners, Sang was a Kalenjin.
"A group of guys stoned him, hit him on the head with a machete and then burnt him," Martin Keino, a former athlete and friend of Sang's, told this reporter. "It was probably a reprisal for other killings." After retiring from running, Sang had become a successful large-scale farmer, and was the head of the local cereal growing board. Keino said that Sang's post-athletics success had made him a role model for many of the younger runners.
Eldoret draws many international athletes attracted by the high altitude and the competition from the thousands of Kenyans who train there year-round. - (Guardian service)