Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei died on Thursday, 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.
Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday’s attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.
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,” 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,” 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 morning at 5:30 am after her organs failed,” Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, told Reuters, adding that a full report regarding the circumstances of her death would be released on Thursday afternoon.
Kenyan newspaper The Standard said her attacker also sustained injuries in the incident and was admitted to the intensive care unit with 30% burns, citing doctors at the same hospital.
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 athletics federation called for justice for Cheptegei.
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.”
