Wilson Kiprugut, the first Kenyan athlete to win an Olympic medal died in November this year aged 84.
The year 2022 was a year in which Kenya witnessed the death of several current and retired sports personalities.
Legendary Kenyan athlete Dan Omwansa died in February this year aged 74 from the long term effects of a stroke that he had suffered in years gone by. Omwansa was a diverse athlete who competed in the 400m, 800m and 1500m races and was part of the Kenyan contingent to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany where he raced in the 800m.
Wilson Kiprugut, the first Kenyan athlete to win an Olympic medal died in November this year aged 84. Kiprugt won a bronze medal over 800m at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, before winning silver over the same distance at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.
Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee was found dead in Iten aged 28 in April. Her Ethiopian boyfriend was at the time of her killing, a prime suspect.
Youngster Wisdom Naya died in June. The talented football who was aged just 19 at the time of his death had been diagnosed with cancer and had his left leg amputated. Naya, an alumnus of St. Anthony’s Kitale, had been a star performer at the 2018 Copa Coca Cola U16 Africa tournament in Nakuru and had been on the books of FKFPL side Sofapaka at the time of his cancer diagnosis.
Congolese born Gabriel Misingi, a basketballer with the USIU Strikers was robbed and stabbed to death in Nairobi after a league match in November.
Safari Rally legend Jim Heather-Hayes died on December 17 aged 75, in what his wife, Trisha termed as a sad and sudden death. His best position in the rally, widely regarded as the world’s toughest, was in 1990 when he placed sixth overall in a Subaru Legacy navigated by Anton Levitan.
Another rally driver, Asad Khan, would die a day after Heather-Hayes. Khan succumbed to injuries following an alleged assault by his girlfriend and fellow rally driver, Maxine Wahome.