Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died in a Kenyan hospital where she was being treated after suffering 80% burns following an attack by her partner. She was 33 years old.
Owen Menach, spokesman for the Moi Teaching and Guidance Hospital in Eldoret, confirmed the death on Thursday. He added that the runner died early in the morning after suffering a fractured limb. He had been fully sedated since he was admitted to the hospital.
Cheptegei had competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Games less than a month before the attack. She placed 44th.
Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, told reporters at the hospital he had lost a “very understanding” daughter and hoped justice would be done.
“The criminal who hurt my daughter is a murderer and I still don’t know what the authorities are doing,” the father said. “He is still free and can escape.”
Trans Nzoia Provincial Police Commander Jeremiah Ole Kosiom said on Monday that Cheptegei’s accomplice Dixon Ndiema bought a can of petrol, poured it on the athlete’s face and set him alight. Ndiema was also burnt and is being treated at the same centre.
Menah said Ndiema was in intensive care with burns to 30 percent of his body but was “improving and stable.”
According to the runner’s parents, their daughter bought a plot of land in Trans Nzoia to be close to the many sports training centres in the area. The local police chief’s report says the couple found out about the land where the house was built before the fire broke out.
The Uganda Athletics Federation praised Cheptegei in a post on social media X. “We are deeply saddened by the death of our athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, a tragic victim of domestic violence this morning. As a federation we condemn these actions and demand justice. May her soul be happy,” it said.
Uganda Olympic Committee president Donald Rukare called the attack “a cowardly and senseless act that has cost the loss of a great athlete.”
In 2023, Ugandan Olympic runner and hurdler Benjamin Kiplagat was found dead with stab wounds. A year ago, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muti was found dead and an autopsy revealed she had been strangled. In 2021, long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death in her home. Her husband, Ibrahim Rotić, was arrested and charged with murder in a case that remains open.
