Joan Rotich, once a celebrated Kenyan marathoner who brought home glory from international races, now finds herself in financial ruin after trusting her ex-boyfriend.
In a heartfelt video shared with City Mirror, the 37-year-old Rotich revealed how she lost nearly KSh11 million — the sum of her race winnings — to her former partner.
“I thought he loved me. I gave him the money, bought two cars for our business, but he registered them under his name,” Rotich shared.
The betrayal didn’t end there; the house she had built for herself and her partner, with hard-earned money, was also taken from her.
“I built a big house, thinking he’d be my husband, but he took everything and left,” she recalled, devastated by the loss.
Despite these setbacks, Rotich refused to give up. Determined to make a comeback, she focused on winning the Doha Marathon in Qatar in 2018, hoping it would be the start of a new chapter.
She won KSh1.6 million in prize money but was again deceived by her agent. “I won another race in Qatar and was duped into having the prize money deposited into the agent’s account. He vanished, and now he’s unreachable,” she said.
Now, at 37, Rotich is determined to rebuild her life. With a renewed sense of hope, she is focused on returning to marathon races and working towards a fresh start.
