Crime & Courts

Olympic Medalist Erick Wainaina Referred to Prosecutors for Slapping Teen, Train Station Employee in Tokyo

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Erick Wainaina crosses the finish line with his hands raised at the Sydney Olympics in October 2000.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:03 JST, May 9, 2024

Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina was referred to prosecutors Thursday for slapping the faces of two people at a Tokyo train station, according to police.

Wainaina, 50, of Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, allegedly assaulted a female passenger in her teens and a station employee in his 50s at Komazawa-daigaku Station on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line at about 10 p.m. on March 27. The station employee was lightly injured.

Wainaina had argued with the teen on the train after she had warned him about how he was using his phone. “I was drunk and don’t remember, but I think it’s true,” the police quoted him as saying during the voluntary interrogation.

Wainaina won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.