Ugandan Olympic Athlete Dies After Boyfriend Sets Her On Fire

Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei was set on fire by her boyfriend and later died in hospital, Ugandan athletics officials said. Just weeks earlier, the 33-year-old had competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Cheptegei was attacked by her boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, after a dispute over a plot of land that had recently been purchased just outside Kenya’s athletic training centre in Trans Nzoia. He reportedly poured petrol over her body and then set her on fire. Cheptegei died of organ failure as a result of the severity of the burns, which covered 80 percent of her body.

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Ndiema also suffered burns, but not to the extent of Tsjeptegei. He is reported to be in stable condition.

Neighbors heard the argument outside, according to The Standard. The outlet said the two neighbors eventually stopped the fire and took them to hospital.

“May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women,” Uganda Olympic Committee President Donald Rukare said in a statement. “This was a cowardly and senseless act that resulted in the loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will live on.”

Cheptegei, who was a mother of two, is the latest victim of what has become a growing problem in Kenya for women who are subjected to attacks by men. The BBC said a 2022 national survey found that 34 percent of women in Kenya experience physical violence. The outlet also spoke to Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, who said it was a “stark reminder of the urgent need to combat gender-based violence.”

She is not the first female Olympic athlete believed to have been murdered by her partner. In 2021, Agnes Tirop, a world-record-breaking Olympic runner from Kenya, was stabbed to death; her husband was charged with murder. In 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Mutua was strangled by her boyfriend, who is reportedly still on the run.