NYAHURURU, Kenya, (Reuters) – Kenyan Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru plunged to his death from the first-floor balcony of his home after the athlete’s wife found him in bed with another woman, police told Reuters.
Regional police chief Jaspher Ombati said that Wanjiru’s wife, Triza Njeri, surprised the couple when she came home late on Sunday, locked them in the bedroom and ran outside.
“In a rage, Samuel Kamau Wanjiru jumped from the first floor of the house and he was badly injured. When he was rushed to the hospital the doctors tried to resusciate him but unfortunately he passed on,” said Ombati.
Wanjiru, 24, won Kenya’s first men’s marathon gold in Beijing in 2008 and had been regarded as one of the greatest current talents in an east African country long renowned for its distance runners.
He also won the prestigious London and Chicago marathons, but his private life was troubled.
Ombati said Wanjiru returned home with the woman after a drinking spree. Nyahururu residents said Wanjiru had taken to heavy drinking of late and was stressed by personal problems.
Last December, Wanjiru was charged with threatening to kill Njeri with an AK-47 assault rife — the accusation was later withdrawn as his wife said they were reconciled — and he rolled his car in January after swerving to avoid an oncoming truck.
