KEY POINTS:
Kenyan Olympic runner Lucas Sang was among victims of the country's post-poll violence when a mob stoned him to death, not realising he was of the same tribe.
Sang, a middle-distance runner, competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics as part of Kenya's 4x400m relay quartet, and again in the 1992 games in Barcelona.
His death, one of about 300, has underscored the violence that has scarred Kenya in opposition strongholds in the east African nation over a disputed presidential election. President Mwai Kibaki just defeated challenger Raila Odinga, amid accusations of vote-rigging.
A close friend of Sang and also a former professional athlete, Martin Keino, said the runner was attacked by a stone-throwing gang as he walked with a group of friends. He died when a rock hit his head and the gang then burned his body.
"One of the ways they recognised him was there was a piece of his tracksuit still not burned on the leg," Keino said. "It's really sad. He was very well known and popular."
Eldoret has seen the worst of ethnic clashes many Kenyans can scarcely believe are happening in their country, which is usually seen as a relatively stable nation in a turbulent region.
Much of the violence has targeted Kibaki's large, economically dominant Kikuyu ethnic group, especially in Eldoret and the Rift Valley region, where about 90 people have been killed and hundreds of homes burned.
Thousands of people have fled town and about 40,000 in the Rift Valley region are internally displaced, aid workers say.
Keino said the rioters mistook the athlete - who hails from the Kalenjin tribe whose youths have launched many of the attacks in Eldoret - for a Kikuyu.
"It was at night, in the dark. Tensions are high. They mistook him for someone else, I guess. No one would have done this if they knew it was him. He was so respected."
Lying around 2000 metres above sea level on the western side of Kenya's fork of the Great Rift Valley, Eldoret has produced a series of top athletes. The most famous, Paul Tergat, held the world record for the marathon from 2003 to 2007, until he was beaten by arch rival Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia.
Keino said Tergat was a friend of Sang, but he had not yet managed to contact him to tell him. "He'll be very disappointed, very sad," he said.
Keino said he hoped Sang's funeral would bring people together. "Hopefully, it's going to make people realise this violence has to stop."
Meanwhile, President Kibaki has signalled that he is prepared to enter into a coalition government with his rival, Raila Odinga. The move followed a meeting with the South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"There is a great deal of hope," Tutu said. Kibaki's spokesman also signalled a willingness to agree to a re-run of the election, if the courts decide it is necessary.
The opposition Orange Democratic Movement's secretary-general, Anyang Nyongo, has called for fresh polls within three months. While the violence recedes, a new issue has arisen - starvation. Opposition supporters streamed out of Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, yesterday morning, looking for food.
"We are tired and hungry," said Syrus Wanyama, a 26-year-old man with two children. While a semblance of normality appeared to return to much of Nairobi, in the slums, home to around two-thirds of Nairobi's 3million population, the constant unrest is starting to take its toll.
Armed gangs have been marauding Kibera at night. In his small, one-room mud hut, Wanyama searched under the family's only mattress and pulled out a machete, a large glass bottle and an ornate wooden table leg studded with nails.
"When it comes to night these are my best friends," he said. Along with other young men along a stretch of rubbish-strewn dirt tracks, Wanyama spends the night guarding his property. His wife, Josephine, their four 4-year-old daughter and six-month-old son, take refuge with hundreds of other women and children in a nearby school.
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