Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge’s history-making marathon is again the subject of misinformation.
On 12 October 2019 Kipchoge clocked 1:59:40 to conquer the Ineos 1:59 challenge, making him the first person to run a marathon – 42.2 kilometres – in less than two hours.
Since then, Africa Check has had to debunk a number of false rumours related to Kipchoge’s achievement.
Now a post making the rounds on Facebook claims a road will be renamed after Kipchoge.
It claims to quote Oscar Sudi, a Kenyan member of parliament, saying: “We will rename Oginga Odinga Street in Eldoret to Eliud Kipchoge Avenue. The name Odinga is cancer in our ears here in Eldoret.” The post includes a photo of Sudi talking to journalists.
Eldoret is a city in western Kenya’s Uasin Gishu county, Sudi’s parliamentary constituency.
The road is named after Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president and the father of Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition politician and former prime minister.
Did the MP really say this?
Sudi dismissed the quote, on his verified Facebook page. On 16 October, he shared two screenshots of similar posts from Facebook and Twitter, both stamped “FAKE”.
“Ignore such idle busybodies,” he wrote.
Sudi did publicly celebrate Kipchoge’s record, but did not call for the road to be renamed or say “the name Odinga is cancer in our ears”. – Grace Gichuhi.
Further reading:
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/fake-ineos159-tweets-between-kenyan-athlete-kipchoge-and-businessman-wanjigi/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/no-kenyas-ruto-did-not-tweet-about-40-acres-race-to-ineos159-champ-kipchoge/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/no-kenyan-public-holiday-to-celebrate-athlete-kipchoges-record-breaking-marathon/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/kipchang-challenging-kipchoge-photo-of-chinese-runner-who-wants-to-beat-kenyan-marathon-champ-photoshopped/
On 12 October 2019 Kipchoge clocked 1:59:40 to conquer the Ineos 1:59 challenge, making him the first person to run a marathon – 42.2 kilometres – in less than two hours.
Since then, Africa Check has had to debunk a number of false rumours related to Kipchoge’s achievement.
‘Odinga cancer to our ears’
Now a post making the rounds on Facebook claims a road will be renamed after Kipchoge.
It claims to quote Oscar Sudi, a Kenyan member of parliament, saying: “We will rename Oginga Odinga Street in Eldoret to Eliud Kipchoge Avenue. The name Odinga is cancer in our ears here in Eldoret.” The post includes a photo of Sudi talking to journalists.
Eldoret is a city in western Kenya’s Uasin Gishu county, Sudi’s parliamentary constituency.
The road is named after Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president and the father of Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition politician and former prime minister.
Did the MP really say this?
‘Ignore idle busybodies’
Sudi dismissed the quote, on his verified Facebook page. On 16 October, he shared two screenshots of similar posts from Facebook and Twitter, both stamped “FAKE”.
“Ignore such idle busybodies,” he wrote.
Sudi did publicly celebrate Kipchoge’s record, but did not call for the road to be renamed or say “the name Odinga is cancer in our ears”. – Grace Gichuhi.
Further reading:
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/fake-ineos159-tweets-between-kenyan-athlete-kipchoge-and-businessman-wanjigi/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/no-kenyas-ruto-did-not-tweet-about-40-acres-race-to-ineos159-champ-kipchoge/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/no-kenyan-public-holiday-to-celebrate-athlete-kipchoges-record-breaking-marathon/
https://africacheck.org/fbcheck/kipchang-challenging-kipchoge-photo-of-chinese-runner-who-wants-to-beat-kenyan-marathon-champ-photoshopped/
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