This X (formerly Twitter) account claiming to be owned by two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and asserting his superiority over the new marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum is FAKE.
In one post, the account owner asserts that they will not be forced to congratulate Kiptum on his recent world record.
“Dear Kenyans don’t forget I ran marathon under 2 hours and am proud of that, Kiptum isn’t better than me, am almost 40yrs and am better than him at 23yrs. You can’t force me to congratulate him for that. No way,” reads the post.
PesaCheck investigated the account to determine if it belonged to Kipchoge.
Several signs suggest that this account is likely fake. It was created in January 2022, which seems unlikely given Kipchoge’s 21-year athletic career.
Additionally, with only 1,196 followers, compared to his millions of followers on Facebook and Instagram, it is improbable for an athlete of Kipchoge’s global stature to have so few followers on his X account.
Furthermore, the tone of the posts differs noticeably. Kipchoge is known for maintaining decorum in his content on Facebook and Instagram, whereas the X account displays a level of impropriety.
To verify the authenticity of the X account, we contacted Global Sports Communication, Kipchoge’s sports management agency. Marketing official Julia Onclin confirmed via email that the X account in question is fake.
“The account you shared with us is fake. This is not Eliud’s real X account. His real account is this one:https://twitter.com/EliudKipchoge?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor,” Onclin told PesaCheck.
Kipchoge’s authentic X account is verified and goes by the username “Eliud Kipchoge — EGH🇰🇪” and handle “@EliudKipchoge”. However, the account we are debunking is not verified and uses the username “Eliud Kipchoge”, and account handle “@HillaryKotut”.
As of 16 October 2023, Kipchoge’s legitimate account had 538,300 followers. The account was created in April 2014 and has a detailed and professional bio featuring information such as marathon times and partners.
The posts on Kipchoge’s genuine X account maintain decorum, unlike the account under scrutiny.
On 8 October 2023, Kelvin Kiptum broke the men’s marathon world record in Chicago clocking two hours and 35 seconds, beating Kipchoge’s previous time by 34 seconds. Since then, Kipchoge has not publicly acknowledged or commented on Kiptum’s achievement.
PesaCheck has looked into an X account claiming to be owned by two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and asserting his superiority over the new marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum and found it to be FAKE.
