2024 Olympic Athlete Set on Fire by Boyfriend and Dies

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Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has tragically died in a Kenyan hospital just days after being set on fire by her boyfriend in a horrific attack. Cheptegei had recently competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she finished 44th.

Accordingly ProtectorA spokesman at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city, where the 33-year-old woman was receiving treatment, confirmed her death on Thursday. Cheptegei had burns over 80 per cent of her body. Her boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, was also injured in the attack and is being treated at the same hospital.

According to Trans-Nzoia police chief Jeremiah ole Kosiom, Ndiema poured a container of petrol on Cheptegei and set him on fire. The couple were heard arguing over land he had bought in Trans-Nzoia county to build a house closer to their athletic training centre in Kenya, shortly after the athlete returned from church with her two children.

“The couple were heard fighting outside their home. During the fight, the boyfriend was seen pouring liquid on the woman and then setting her on fire,” Kosiom told a local newspaper in Kenya. “The suspect was also caught in the fire and suffered serious burns.”

Uganda Olympic Committee President Donald Rukare condemned the violence against Cheptegei in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.

“We have sadly learned of the passing of our Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei OLY after she was brutally attacked by her boyfriend,” Rukare wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women. This was a cowardly and senseless act that resulted in the loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will live on.”

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