Ezekiel Kemboi’s ‘old flame’ speaks out

A woman linked to world steeplechase
champion Ezekiel Kemboi has for the first
time broken her silence about a scandal
that almost cost Kenya an Olympic gold
medal in 2012.
Njeri Otieno, the woman who accused
Kemboi of stabbing her, has finally
revealed how the matter was settled out
of court.
“Kemboi paid me over Sh4 million to drop
the case. He also threw in a two-week
trip to Dubai,” Njeri said in an exclusive
interview with The Nairobian.
“We had a thing. We had been friends for
a while and eventually became very close
until we broke up after the incident. We
reconciled but eventually broke it off
when it became obvious that we had
completely opposite personalities.”
Njeri, who met Kemboi when she used to
run an eatery in Eldoret town, further
revealed that the star runner almost
became her husband.
“I could have married Kemboi but I felt I
would not have a special place in his
heart because he is so busy. If I became
his wife, I doubt he would have had time
for me,” Njeri says, claiming Kemboi
already had two wives.
When contacted, the famous athlete
refused to comment about Njeri’s claims.
In June 28, 2012, the world woke up to
news that Ann Njeri Otieno – a
businesswoman in Eldoret – had reported
Kemboi to the police for stabbing her in
the chest the pervious night.
According to The Standard, Njeri said they
had been drinking with the athlete until
around midnight when, “as he was
dropping me home, he made sexual
advances at me and I declined. He locked
the vehicle and started demanding it.
“But as I was hurriedly opening our gate,
he ran and caught up with me. A scuffle
ensued and he threatened to kill me. He
reached for a knife and stabbed me,” she
reportedly said from her hospital bed.
The incident made global news, with UK’s
Daily Mail reporting that Kemboi had said
“the woman was stabbed while taking
part in an armed robbery against him.”
Since, Kemboi was preparing for the
London Olympics to start on July 27, he
asked the court to defer the assault case
till September.

It was widely believed that the case
would affect his performance but the
athlete proved the world wrong by
winning the 3000m steeplechase on
August 5.
His was the second gold medal for Kenya,
which boosted the country’s dismal
performance. Kenya left London with 11
medals (2 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze), a
performance that was highly criticised as
having not met expectations.
Weeks later, Njeri dropped the assault
case, saying she needed to concentrate
on her university studies and her
businesses.
Njeri also told The Nairobian that after
the 2012 incident, the negative publicity
adversely affected her business and
Kemboi advised her to close it down.
“He told me to chose any other business
that I wanted to do and he would fund it.
But I declined. How many men can do
that? He has a big heart and he is always
ready to help people. I just didn’t want
him to fund a new business for me,” she
said.
The 25-year-old woman who trained in
journalism revealed she comes from a
business savvy family. She drives a Toyota
Celica Sports car and said she was never
with Kemboi for his money.
“Our family is stable, and I am also stable.
I have businesses I run and I was with
Kemboi because he is a good guy. The fact
that he used to take care of me so well is
just a bonus,” Njeri said.
“He is a man I respect so much and I
don’t like it when people say bad things
about him. He is an admirable character
and has a lot of discipline. When I was
with him, he took care of me so well. Any
woman would be lucky to have him. He is
a good man, and I can never say anything
bad about him,” the mother of a nine-
year-old boy added.
She revealed that Kemboi is very
disciplined when it comes to financial
matters.
“No one can con him. He is very sharp
about money. But he is extremely
generous to people around him. He never
thinks of himself. He never buys anything
for himself but people around him benefit
from his generosity,” the young woman
said.
She recalls an incident when she was on a
date with Kemboi and he received a
phone call that one of his farm workers
had been injured.
“Kemboi abandoned our date, went back
to the farm, took his worker to the
hospital, paid all the bills and stayed next
to him till late in the night,” Njeri said.
Another time, she said, Kemboi decided
to buy new phones and airtime for all his
workers.
“He is very passionate about farming. He
has green fingers. Nothing can distract
him from going to the farm. If he had an
option, he would live, eat and sleep in the
farm,” Njeri said.
She claimed that when she first met
Kemboi, she did not know he was an
Olympic champion.

“He introduced himself to me as Sammy
Cheboi, and he is a very funny guy so I
fell for him. I only realised he was
Kemboi after a while because of the
amount of attention he was getting. I was
also financially stable so I think he was a
bit surprised that I never asked him for
financial assistance,” she said.
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