Rebecca Cheptegei: Uganda athlete dies, days after boyfriend set her on fire

By Agency report: NAIROBI, (Reuters) 

(C), Rebecca Cheptegei at the World Athletics Championship - Women's Marathon - National Athletics Centre, Budapest, Hungary - August 26, 2023.

Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei died on Thursday, 5 September, 2024 four days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.

The authorities in north-west Kenya, where Cheptegei lived and trained, said she was targeted after returning home from church with her two daughters.

Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday's (1 September, 2024) attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.

She is the third most prominent sportswoman to have been 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," Donald Rukare, President of the Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X.

"May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women," he said.

The runner, who finished 44th in Paris, was admitted to a hospital in the Kenyan Rift Valley City of Eldoret after the attack.

Cheptegei "passed today; Thursday, 5 September, 2024 morning at 5:30 am after her organs failed," Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, told Reuters.

While Dr. Kimani Mbugua, a consultant at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, told local media that the staff did all they could for her but the athlete "had a severe percentage of burns, which unfortunately led to multi-organ failure, which ultimately led to her passing this morning at 05:30 [02:30 GMT]".

Kenyan newspaper; 'The Standard' said her attacker also sustained injuries in the incident and was admitted to the intensive care unit with 30% burns, he is still in intensive care but his condition was "improving and stable", Moi hospital's Dr. Owen Menach said.

Kenyan Sports Minister 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.

Uganda's Rebecca Cheptegei in action during the women's marathon final REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo

 

The athlete's father, Joseph Cheptegei, told reporters in Eldoret that he was asking the government to protect her children and properties "so that no one will get into her home and take anything."

"We have lost our breadwinner," he added and wondered how her two young children would "proceed with their education.

"The land... has brought problems," he said, following local media reports that the mother of two and her boyfriend had been fighting over property in the days leading up to the attack.

Cheptegei, from a region just across the border in Uganda, is said to have bought a plot in Trans Nzoia county and built a house to be near Kenya's elite athletics training centres.

Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya. In 2022 at least 34% of women said they had experienced physical violence, according to a national survey.

Different organisations within the UN have also spoken out on the issue.

"We join the UN Population Fund and UN Women in strongly condemning Cheptegei's violent murder," spokesperson for the UN secretary-general Stephane Dujarric is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Kirwa, who often trained with Cheptegei and had visited her in hospital, told the BBC she "was a very affable person. She helped us all even financially and she brought me training shoes when she came back from the Olympics. She was like an older sister to me".

Uganda's athletics federation said in a post on X: "We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei early this morning who tragically fell victim to domestic violence. As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice. May her soul rest In Peace."

In the same vein, British Olympian runner Eilish McColgan wrote on X "This is heart-breaking. Even more heart-breaking that it's not the first time the athletics community has lost such an incredible female athlete to domestic violence."

As the head of Uganda's Olympic committee Donald Rukare said on X; "This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will continue to endure." 

Meanwhile, Uganda’s Sports Minister Peter Ogwang said arrangements were being made to transport Cheptegei’s body back to Uganda for burial.

"We mourn with the family as a country," he added.

He disclosed, that Cheptegei had wanted to talk to him when they were at the Olympics together.

"She said she had a family problem."

Also reacting, Kenyan athlete Joan Chelimo said "Today has been a sad moment for me. It has been a sad moment for athletes because it really reminded us of the day that Agnes was murdered."

Cheptegei's friend Milcah Chemos-Cheywa, a Kenyan athlete with her in Paris, echoed these feelings.

"I can say we are still in shock, and we are in pain, especially as athletes, and this thing is happening in Kenya,” she told the Reuters news agency. “We remember the case of Agnes Tirop, now it has come to Rebecca, so we are not happy.

Nearly 34% of Kenyan girls and women aged 15-49 years have suffered physical violence, according to government data from 2022, with married women at particular risk.

The 2022 survey found that 41 percent of married women had faced violence.

A report by UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said that in 2022, African countries collectively recorded the largest number of killings of women, both in absolute terms and relative to the size of the continent's female population.

Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of the non-profit organisation, told Reuters that female athletes were at high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their money.

"They get into these traps of predators who pose in their lives as lovers," she said.

Cheptegei also won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.