Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, burned by her partner, succumbs to her injuries

Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died from her burns, four days after she was attacked by a man identified as her partner in western Kenya, the president of the Ugandan Olympic Committee announced on Thursday, September 5.

“We have learned of the sad passing of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei following a violent attack by her boyfriend. May her soul rest in peace. We strongly condemn violence against women.”writes Donald Rukare on X. “This is a cowardly and senseless act that led to the loss of a great athlete.”he adds.

“All his organs have stopped [de fonctionner] last night »a doctor at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, where the 33-year-old athlete, who took the 44th place in August, confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP),^e the marathon site of the Paris Olympic Games, was treated. “Burned to “more than 80%”she was in a “critical condition”the doctors had said.

A hospital staff member, who requested anonymity, told AFP on Wednesday that Rebecca Cheptegei’s condition had worsened due to sepsis caused by a bacterial infection.

The Uganda Athletics Federation said: “deeply saddened” by the death of his athlete, “tragic victim of domestic violence”. “We condemn such acts and call for justice”she added on X. “His untimely and tragic death is a huge loss.”regrets, for its part, the Kenyan federation (Athletics Kenya), claiming “the end of sexist violence”.

“Femicide”

“Rebecca Cheptegei is dead. We speak your name in the land of the living. Rest in peace. Yes, it is a femicide. We must put an end to femicides.”reacting to X Njeri Migwi, co-founder of the association Usikime (“Don’t stay silent”in Swahili), which helps victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

According to a police report seen by AFP, the suspect, identified as Ndiema Marangach, entered Rebecca Cheptegei’s property around 2 p.m. on Sunday while she was at church with her children.

The marathon runner lived with her sister and two children in the house she had built in Endebess, a town 25 kilometres from the Ugandan border, where she trained, her father, Joseph Cheptegei, said in Eldoret on Tuesday. When they returned from church, the suspect doused her with petrol and set it on fire in front of her children, two girls aged 9 and 11, according to the Kenyan daily The Standard.

The nature of the relationship between the athlete and the suspect, who is also suffering from burns and is hospitalized at the MTRH in Eldoret, was not clear. The police report describes them as “a couple who constantly had family arguments.” According to Rebecca Cheptegei’s father, she “became friends with this man, but they had disagreements, and he went to live with his wife”.

In recent years, several tragedies have cast a shadow over the world of athletics in Kenya. In April 2022, the body of Damaris Mutua, a Bahraini athlete of Kenyan origin, was found in Iten, a famous long-distance running training ground on the Rift Valley plateaus. Her partner is suspected of having killed her. In October 2021, promising 25-year-old athlete Agnes Tirop, a double bronze medalist at the 10,000m world championships in 2017 and 2019, and fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in the 5,000m, was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten. Her husband, Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich, who denies any responsibility, is being prosecuted for murder. His trial is ongoing.