Ugandan Olympic murdered by ex-partner
Thousands of mourners gathered in eastern Ugandan for the funeral of Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her former partner and eventually died.
Dickson Ndiema attacked her with fuel just under a week ago outside her home in neighboring north-west Kenya, near where she trains.
The 33-year-old’s death, and its brutality, devastated her family and startled many others around the world.
It highlighted the high incidence of violence against women in Kenya, as well as the fact that some female athletes have fallen victim in recent years.
Fellow athletes wearing black T-shirts with the motto “say no to gender-based violence” attend the funeral ceremony on a school field in Bukwo, Cheptegei’s home district.
Local officials attended a memorial service earlier today, with her coffin on display and covered in the Ugandan flag.
They took a moment of silence before giving a standing ovation in honor of the late sportsman.
According to councillors, Cheptegei led “a simple and focused life” and was always willing to help her fellow athletes. “She inspired many children in the area to join athletics,” a neighbor stated.
They also proposed naming a road and a local sports facility in her honor.
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She will be buried later on Saturday at her father’s homestead nearby.
Cheptegei died at the hospital four days after the attack. According to doctors, she had burns on more than 80% of her body, which “led to multi-organ failure”.
Ndiema, who was also injured as part of the fuel splattered onto his body, died on Monday.
He attacked the mother of two after she returned from a church service at God’s Dwelling Ministry.
Caroline Atieno, the pastor there, remembers a “wonderful… God-fearing person”.
After hearing what had transpired, she was able to speak with Cheptegei on the phone while in the hospital.
The athlete initially inquired about her children, who were both fine, the pastor told the newsshorer’s Africa Daily podcast.
Then Cheptegei addressed her attacker: “You mean Dickson can’t see everything I’ve done for him?” He couldn’t recall one or two things I’d done for him, so why is he setting me on fire? “Why did he do this to me?”
On Friday, family members, friends, and activists against gender-based violence inspected her casket at a funeral home in the Kenyan town of Eldoret before it was transported away.
Her mother, Agnes Cheptegei, was distraught and carrying a souvenir bag from the athlete’s recent Paris Olympics, where she finished 44th in the marathon.
She wore a T-shirt with the message “being a woman should not be a death sentence” emblazoned on it.
The mother of two was the third female athlete assassinated in Kenya in the past three years. In each case, authorities identified current or previous love partners as the primary suspects.
In 2021, world record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death, and six months later, Damaris Mutua was strangled.
Attacks on women have become a big issue in Kenya. A national survey found that at least 34% of women had suffered physical assault by 2022.
Some observers believe that female athletes are becoming increasingly vulnerable.
“[This is] because they contradict established gender standards in which women are limited to the kitchen, cooking and caring for children. But now female athletes are becoming more financially independent,” said Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to raise awareness about violence against women.
“We don’t want this to happen to any other woman, whether an athlete, from the village, or a young girl,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesman for the government’s women and affirmative action department, told the NEWSSHORTR.
When Cheptegei initially started running, she joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in 2008, which helped her financially.
Her last race was at the Paris Olympics. Despite finishing 44th, people in her hometown still referred to her as “champion”.
She won gold in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.
