NAIROBI, Kenya -- A Kenyan government pathologist says former Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru did not commit suicide and that he died after being struck on the head with a blunt object.
Wanjiru, who was the first Kenyan to win gold in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, died in 2011 after falling from a balcony at his home in Nyahururu, in Kenya's Rift Valley.
Moses Njue, a former chief government pathologist, told an inquest Tuesday it was not possible for the fall of 14 feet to have caused the severe head injuries that killed Wanjiru -- especially as injuries to his knees and palms indicated that he had tried to break his fall.
Njue said he was "convinced that the deceased was hit after he fell on the ground by another person."
The inquest was ordered by the government after three post-mortem reports produced different conclusions.