Will the ghosts of shocking deaths in sport be exorcised?

The sports fraternity in Kenya is praying that the ghosts of loss of stars through deaths are exorcised in 2025.

Several tactics aimed at taming gender-based violence (GBV) have been put in place following a number of deaths in previous years including 2024.

A number of athletes have perished in accidents while others died after brave battles with illnesses.

Sports personalities are now praying that they don’t bury compatriots in this year.

Volleyball queen Janet Wanja is the latest sports personality that the country has lost in recent days. She died on December 26 after battling cancer for months.

The 40-year-old national volleyball team, Malkia Strikers player, was celebrated for her long and decorated career. She also played for Kenya Pipeline.

But last year was devastating. The sports industry lost the finest athletes through various ways.

Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum’s tragic death shocked Kenya and reverberated through the athletics world, heralding one of the heartbreaking moments in the globe.

A reigning record holder who was just beginning to make waves in the athletics world bid millions of enthusiasts farewell in a flash, leaving them with memories of his broad smiles and an unassuming personality.

And the February tragedy made 2024 a year that the athletics fans would want to forget.

Kiptum, aged 24 at the time of his demise, was tipped to team up with compatriots in a mission to bring home the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a Kenyan dream that was crushed by a road accident.

By December 2023, he was already in a tentative Olympic arsenal assembled by Kenya for the Paris showdown, just three months after setting the 2:00:35 world record at the Chicago Marathon and became the first long distance runner to dip under 2:01 in the classic distance.