Ugandan Olympian killed by ex-boyfriend to be buried

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Ugandan Olympian ******* by ex-boyfriend to be *******

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Rebecca Cheptegei’s last race was at the Paris Olympics

Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later *****, is due to be ******* in a state ******** on Saturday.

Dickson Ndiema attacked her with petrol just under a fortnight ago outside her home in north-west Kenya, close to where she trained.

The 33-year-old’s ********, and its brutal nature, left her family distraught and shocked many others across the world.

It underscored the high levels of ********* against women in Kenya and the fact that several female athletes have been victims in recent years.

Cheptegei ***** in hospital four days after the *******. Doctors said she had suffered burns on more than 80% of her body which “led to multi-organ ********”.

Ndiema, who was also burned after some of the fuel splashed on his own body, ***** on Monday.

He attacked the mother-of-two after she returned from a service at a *******, the ****’s Dwelling Ministry.

The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, remembers a “wonderful… ****-fearing person”.

After hearing about what had happened, she managed to speak to Cheptegei on the phone while she was in hospital.

The athlete first asked about her children, who were both fine, the pastor told the

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.

Then Cheptegei talked about her attacker: “You mean Dickson is not able to see all I have done for him? He could not remember even one or two things I have done for him and stop setting me on *****? Why has he done this to me?”

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Cheptegei’s mother, Agnes, (left) was proudly wearing a bag her daughter received at the Paris Olympics as she viewed her coffin on Friday

Cheptegei’s ******** is being held in Bukwo, home to her family in Uganda and close to the Kenyan border.

On Friday, family members, friends and activists against gender-based ********* viewed her coffin at a ******** home in the Kenyan town of Eldoret, before it was driven away.

Her mother, Agnes Cheptegei, covering her face in anguish, was wearing a souvenir bag that the athlete received at the recent Paris Olympics, where she came 44th in the marathon.

She was dressed in a T-shirt which had the slogan “being a woman should not be a ****** sentence” printed on it.

The mother-of-two was the third female athlete to be ******* in Kenya over the last three years. In each case, current or former romantic partners were named as the main suspects by police.

In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to ****** and six months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.

Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei’s community in mourning

Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya. In 2022 at least 34% of women said they had experienced physical *********, according to a national survey.

Some observers are saying that female athletes are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

“[This is] because they go against traditional gender norms where the woman is just in the kitchen and just cooking and taking care of kids. But now female athletes are becoming more independent, financially independent,” said Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to help highlight the issue of ********* against women.

“We don’t want this to happen to any other woman, whether an athlete or from the village, or a young girl,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesperson of the government’s department for gender and affirmative action, told the BBC.

When Cheptegei first got into running, she joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in 2008 which helped support her.

Her last race was at the Paris Olympics. Although she came 44th people in her home area still referred to her as “champion”.

She won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.

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