Kenyan athlete Ezekiel Kemboi quizzed over stabbing

Kenyan police have been questioning the world's 3,000m steeplechase champion, Ezekiel Kemboi, after a woman he was with on Wednesday night was stabbed.

Anne Njeri Otieno alleges that the athlete attacked her when she declined his sexual advances.

Mr Kemboi told police he was dropping her home in the western town of Eldoret when they were ambushed by thugs and she was injured in the skirmish.

The athlete, a serving policeman, is preparing to go to the London Olympics.

Senior investigative officer Charles Chamanda told the BBC that the police have recorded statements from both Mr Kemboi and Ms Otieno, who is in a stable condition in hospital.

The BBC's Wanyama Chebusiri in Eldoret says Mr Kemboi has spent several hours at the town's police station being questioned.

The station has been jammed with hundreds of curious onlookers, and officers have had difficulty controlling the swelling crowd, he says.

Ms Otieno told reporters that she had been out drinking with Mr Kemboi when he offered her a lift home.

The 2004 Olympic gold 3,000m steeplechase winner told police that the attackers pounced on him when he was outside the car, demanded money and then attacked him.

He said he acted in self-defence to dodge them and his companion was stabbed.