Ugandan marathon runner Cheptegei dies days after boyfriend set her on fire

Nairobi (Kenya): Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died, hospital officials said on Thursday, days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend.

Kenyan and Ugandan media reported that Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75 per cent of her body in the attack in Kenya on Sunday, making her the third female athlete to be killed in the country 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 Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X.

"May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete."

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

Cheptegei "passed today morning at 5.30 am after her organs failed," Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital said, adding that a full report regarding the circumstances of her death would be released on Thursday afternoon.

Peter Ogwang, Uganda's minister of state for sports, described her death as "tragic".

"Kenyan authorities are investigating the circumstances under which she died and a more detailed report and programme will be provided in due course," he said.

Cheptegei's death shines a spotlight on violence experienced by sportswomen in Kenya, where she lived when she trained.

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.

Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of the non-profit organisation, said 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.