A peculiar incident occurred this week in the Kenyan city of Eldoret where a “female athlete” previously identified as one “Shieys Jepkosgei“, who participated in a number of international sports events, was revealed to be a man named Hillary Kiprotich.
According to local media reports, Kiprotich was initially apprehended after getting caught impersonating a female nurse at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and was sent to a local women's prison whose staff were in for quite a surprise.
Meet Kenyan man Hillary Kiprotich aka Shieys Chepkosgei who had pretended to be & identified as a woman, going unnoticed for the longest period ever. pic.twitter.com/SUFmORXUeo
— NT.co.ke (@NtKenya) 19 июня 2019 г.
“She was critically checked and found to have a male sexual organ. He was referred back to court and now remanded at Eldoret Police station for ten days with the names Hillary Rotich pending further interrogation”, a statement issued by the police said.
News of this development left many social media users perplexed and amused, with people pondering how Kiprotich managed to pull this charade off.
I love my country, full of surprises pic.twitter.com/IRJolRp6AZ
— Rashid Efumbi (@refumbi) 19 июня 2019 г.
How did s/he evade the system? Now, that’s smartness 😂😂😂
— Ndede (@otindede) 19 июня 2019 г.
😂😂😂😂 he has participated in she races abroad..He got Balls!
— Jimali (@Avesman2) 19 июня 2019 г.
This man deserves another medal😂😂😂🏅🏅🏅
— Lee Munene (@LEENesh9) 19 июня 2019 г.
Under the guise of “Jepkosgei", Kiprotich managed to participate in several international marathons and won at least three medals.
“I was identified as a male, but when I became an athlete, I registered myself as female,” he told the court.