Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died days after being set on fire by a former boyfriend.
The 33-year-old Ugandan marathon runner, who competed in the recent Paris Olympics, had suffered extensive burns after Sunday’s attack.
Dr Kimani Mbugua, a consultant at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, told local media that the staff did all they could for her but the athlete “had a severe percentage of burns, which unfortunately led to multi-organ failure, which ultimately led to her passing
The authorities in north-west Kenya, where Cheptegei lived and trained, said she was targeted after returning home from church with her two daughters.
Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya. In 2022 at least 34% of women said they had experienced physical violence, according to a national survey.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the urgent need to combat gender-based violence, which has increasingly affected even elite sports,” Kenya’s Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said.
She also won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
