Rebecca Cheptegei passes away (1991 - 2024) (1) (Uganda) - UK News - 5/Sep/2024

The killing of Ugandan Olympian and long-distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei has devastated her friends and family - and has left the East African athletics community reeling.

Cheptegei died on Thursday morning after suffering severe burns - her ex-boyfriend doused her in petrol and set her on fire on Sunday outside her house in north-west Kenya.

Speaking outside the Kenyan hospital where her daughter had been treated, Agnes Cheptegei was only able to pay a brief tribute, describing her as kind-hearted.

Her sister, Violet, broke down as she said: “I’m in pain but we leave it to God.”

Cheptegei had just returned from church when she was attacked by her former partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, police say. Her two young daughters are reported to have to have witnessed it all and tried to intervene.

Her friends and fellow athletes have described her as a generous and kind athlete.

James Kirwa - who was Cheptegei’s occasional training partner - spoke the BBC hours after her death.

He remembered the 33-year-old as an experienced athlete who was kind to her teammates on the running circuit.

“She was a very affable person and was always very helpful and helped us all even financially. She brought me training shoes when she came back from the [Paris] Olympics,” he said.

The mother-of-two had been in the French capital competing in the marathon, coming 44th in a time of two hours, 32 minutes and 14 seconds.

In comparison to other runners in the region she achieved modest success.

But you don’t have to win medals to earn money - and she was still able to help support her family with her earnings from participating in races.

At 19, she first represented Uganda in an under-20 race at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships.

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Wikipedia:
Rebecca Cheptegei was a Ugandan cross country, long-distance and marathon runner, who is the national record holder in the latter discipline in a non-mixed race.