Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan long-distance runner who competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics succumbed, four days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.
Cheptegei, 33, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in the attack. She died at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in the city of Eldoret in an intensive care unit. The cause of death according to Dr. Owen Menach, the senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, was multiple organ failure. The Kenyan police had said that a man with whom she was in a relationship set her on fire with gasoline.
Cheptegei, a professional athlete, placed 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics in August. She had qualified for the race after finishing the Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2022 in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 47 seconds, her best time.
She is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021.
“We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei… following a vicious attack by her boyfriend,” the half marathon. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete. May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women,” Donald Rukare, the president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, said on social media.
Her attacker was identified by the police as Dickson Ndiema, who was said to be in a relationship with her. Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, said that the two had been involved in a property dispute. The police said that he had entered her home in Kenya with a jerrycan of gasoline, poured it on her and set her on fire.
Her attacker also sustained injuries in the incident and was admitted to the intensive care unit with 30% burns at the same hospital.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei’s death as a loss “to the entire region”.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles,” he said in a statement.
In October 2021, Olympian runner Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s highly competitive athletics scene, was found dead in her home in the town of Iten, with multiple stab wounds to the neck.
Ibrahim Rotich, her husband, was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing.
The 25-year-old’s killing shocked Kenya, with current and former athletes setting up ‘Tirop’s Angels’ in 2022 to combat domestic violence.