Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei passes on
David GOMBE
Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has passed on after suffering burns over 75%-80% of her body during a domestic dispute.
She lost her life at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya where she had been admitted earlier on Sunday.
“Good morning colleagues, very sad news Rebecca Cheptegei passed on this morning. May her soul rest in peace. We keep her family and the UAF family in our prayers and thoughts at this time.” Dr Donald Rukare the Uganda Olympic Committee President confirmed her death
Rebecca’s boyfriend Dickson Ndiema, doused her with gasoline at their home following a disagreement over land that she had purchased to be closer to Kenya’s athletic training centers.
She qualified to compete in the Olympic marathon after she ran a personal best of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 47 seconds at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Marathon, according to the Olympics website for the Paris Games. She came in 44th at the Paris Olympic games Marathon last month.
Cheptegei joins a long list of athletes who have lost their lives due to domestic assault.
In 2021, record-breaking Kenyan runner Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home. Her husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich is now being tried for her murder despite denying being involved.
Ugandan Olympic runner and steeplechaser Benjamin Kiplagat was found dead with stab wounds last year. His body was discovered in a car on the outskirts of Eldoret.
Earlier in 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee was found dead, with a post-mortem examination revealing that she had been strangled.
In October, 2021, the night before Tirop’s death, a twenty-seven-year-old runner named Edith Muthoni, who lived east of Nairobi, was killed; her throat was slit with a machete.
In 2014, Lucy Kabuu, another runner, was sued by her ex-husband for control of half of her properties.
May Cheptegei’s soul rest in external peace.