Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died from burns four days after being attacked by a man posing as her companion in western Kenya, the president of the Uganda Olympic Committee announced Thursday.
“We have learned of the sad death 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 in X. “This is a cowardly and senseless act that led to the loss of a great athlete”duck.
“All his organs have stopped [de fonctionner] last night “confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) a doctor at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, where the 33-year-old athlete, who was ranked 44th in August, is currently staying.my site of the Paris Olympic marathon, was clean. “Burned in “more than 80%”She was in a “critical condition”the doctors said.
A hospital staff member, who asked not to be named, told AFP on Wednesday that Rebecca Cheptegei’s condition had worsened due to sepsis caused by a bacterial infection.
The Uganda Athletics Federation said this “deeply sad” for the death of his athlete, “tragic victim of domestic violence.” “We condemn such acts and demand justice”added in X. “His premature and tragic death is an immense loss”The Kenyan federation (Athletics Kenya) regrets, demanding “the end of gender-based violence”.
“Rebecca Cheptegei is dead. We speak your name in the land of the living. May she rest in peace. Yes, it is femicide. Femicide must end.”reacted to X Njeri Migwi, co-founder of the Usikimye association (“Don’t keep quiet”in Swahili), which helps victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
repeat dramas
According to a police report seen by AFP, the suspect, identified as Ndiema Marangach, entered Rebecca Cheptegei’s property on Sunday at around 2 p.m., while she was at church with her children.
The marathon runner lived with her sister and her two children in this house that she had built in Endebess, a town located 25 kilometers from the border with Uganda, where she trained, according to her father, Joseph Cheptegei, who explained this Tuesday in Eldoret. When they returned from church, the suspect doused her with gasoline and set her on fire in front of her children, two girls aged 9 and 11, according to the Kenyan newspaper. The standard.
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The nature of the relationship between the athlete and the suspect, who also suffered burns and is hospitalized at MTRH Eldoret, is unclear. The police report presents them as “a couple who constantly had family arguments.” According to Rebecca Cheptegei’s father, she “He became friends with this man, but they had differences and he went to live with his wife”.
In recent years, several tragedies have struck the athletics world in Kenya. In April 2022, the body of Damaris Mutua, a Bahraini athlete of Kenyan origin, was found in Iten, a famous training site for long-distance running on the plateaus of the Rift Valley. Her partner is suspected of having killed her. In October 2021, promising athlete Agnes Tirop, 25, double bronze medallist 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 in her home in Iten. Her husband, Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich, who denies any responsibility, is on trial for murder. His trial is ongoing.
