The 24-year-old Olympic Marathon champion, Samuel Wanjiru, jumped out of his balcony to death on Monday, according to his brother who said efforts to revive him could not succeed.

Kenya’s Wanjiru won the Olympic marathon title in Beijing in 2008 with an Olympic record performance of 2:06:32.

After becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon, running the fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury.

But with his win in the last October’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Wanjiru faced several difficulties. He was arrested at his home in Nyahururu and charged with threatening his wife, striking a security guard, and possessing an illegal AK-47 rifle.

David Monti wrote in the Race Results Weekly that Wanjiru’s manager had also confirmed his client’s death via a text message.

Only if he could realize life’s a marathon too, and won it. RIP, young boy.