“He got depressed and started drinking a lot”: Kenyan athlete who won medals at 2017 World Championships dies at 26

Kényan Kipyegon Bett, médaillé de bronze du 800 m aux Mondiaux-2017 à Londres, est décédé à l'âge de 26 ans. EPA – SEAN DEMPSEY

Suspended for four years for doping, Kipyegon Bett had liver and kidney problems. 

Kenyan Kipyegon Bett, bronze medalist in the 800m at the 2017 World Championships in London, died Sunday at the age of 26 from kidney and liver failure, his family announced Monday. Banned from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 world championships after being found guilty of doping, Bett "became depressed and began drinking heavily", his sister Purity Kirui said Monday.

Suspended for doping

Bett, the 2016 under-20 world champion in Bydgoszcz, Poland, was one of Kenya's most promising middle-distance runners. But he was banned for four years in August 2018 by the World Athletics Integrity Unit (IAU) after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO). He has always denied using the drug that stimulates blood circulation.

He had kidney problems

"We had tried to encourage him to return to the track after his suspension ended in August 2022", without success, his sister added. Bett was first hospitalized in his hometown of Kericho (west) a week ago. He was readmitted on Friday after his condition worsened. “He had kidney problems,”, Kirui said. “But doctors realized his liver was also a problem. Both organs were failing.”

In 2017, in addition to his bronze medal at the World Championships, Kipyegon Bett won the 800m at the Shanghai meeting, a Diamond League event. Kenyan athletics has been plagued by doping for many years. Several dozen athletes from this East African country have been subject to sanctions in the last three years alone.