Rebecca Cheptegei, Olympic Runner From Uganda, Dies After Gasoline Attack
“The athlete, who was set on fire in Kenya by a man with whom she was in a relationship, competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan long-distance runner who competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics before she was severely burned in a gasoline attack this week, died Thursday in Kenya. She was 33.
Ms. Cheptegei died in an intensive care unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in the city of Eldoret, said Dr. Owen Menach, who is on staff at the hospital. The cause was multiple organ failure, he said in a phone interview.
The Kenyan police had said that a man with whom she was in a relationship, Dickson Ndiema, set her on fire with gasoline Sunday afternoon.
Her kidneys had failed at the time of her hospitalization after she sustained burns to 80 percent of her body, Dr. Menach said. She also sustained inhalation burns, according to Dr. Kimani Mbugua, another hospital official, and had been in a critical condition after the attack.
Jeremiah Kosiom, the police commander for the Trans Nzoia County Police, said that they planned to charge Mr. Ndiema with murder as soon as he recuperated from injuries he sustained in the attack. Mr. Ndiema suffered burns to 30 percent of his body and was being treated at same hospital, Mr. Kosiom said.
The death of Ms. Cheptegei, a professional runner who finished 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, prompted outcry and horror from women’s rights campaigns, who have long raised the alarm about a disturbing upsurge in the killings of women in Kenya and other African nations. At least 500 women in Kenya have been victims of femicide — a term used for the killing of women and girls — between 2016 and 2023, according to a report from Africa Data Hub, a group collating cases from Kenyan news media.
The police, who are investigating the attack, said earlier that Ms. Cheptegei and Mr. Ndiema had quarreled over an unknown issue before the attack, after which he entered her home in Kenya with a jerrycan of gasoline, poured it on her and set her on fire.
Joseph Cheptegei, the runner’s father, said that the two had been involved in a property dispute. He had previously reported concerns to the police that Mr. Ndiema had been intimidating his daughter, he said to reporters outside the hospital on Thursday, and accused them of “taking the matter for granted.”
World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport, said in a statement that it was shocked and deeply saddened to learn Ms. Cheptegei had died “as a result of an alleged domestic abuse attack.”
Ms. Cheptegei qualified for the Paris Games, her first Olympics, after finishingthe Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2022 in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 47 seconds, her best time and a Ugandan record, according to World Athletics. She made her marathon debut in 2021 but began running as a teenager, representing Uganda across 15 years at major championships in track, road, cross country and mountain races. Among her milestones was winning the 2022 Up and Downhill race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand.
“Our sport has lost a talented athlete in the most tragic and unthinkable circumstances,” said Sebastian Coe, the body’s president. “Rebecca was an incredibly versatile runner who still had lots left to give on the roads, mountains and cross country trails.” He added that the organization would discuss how to protect female athletes from “abuse of all kinds.”
Other athletes have been among the victims of femicide. In 2021, Agnes Jebet Tirop, a Kenyan star runner who set a world record in the 10-kilometer race, was stabbed to death in her home, and her husband was charged with her murder. A year later, Damaris Muthee Mutua, a Kenya-born athlete who competed for Bahrain, was found strangled in Iten, Kenya.
Africa had the highest rate of gender-related killings of any continent in 2022, according to the United Nations, which estimated that 20,000 women were killed there, though the actual figure could be even higher.
“This tragic incident is part of a larger, disturbing pattern of violence against women, including high-profile female athletes,” said Njeri wa Migwi, executive director of Usikimye, a Kenyan nonprofit working with victims of gender-based violence. She added that the case highlighted the urgent need for stronger protections and more accountability: “We are calling for swift justice in this case.”
“It’s genuinely a huge alarm,” said Zaha Indimuli, an organizer for End Femicide Kenya, an advocacy movement that held a sweeping demonstration in Kenya this year. “We are all scared.”
“I can’t even explain the horror of what she might have gone through,” Ms. Indimuli said, adding that the killing of a high-ranking athlete gave her the sense that no woman was safe. “Women are constant walking targets for perpetrators,” she said. She noted that in many cases the perpetrators were boyfriends, husbands or other men already known to them.
Ms. Indimuli said the claims of gender-based violence needed to be taken more seriously, pointing to a culture of disregard toward the lives of women and girls. “We need to see these perpetrators being held accountable in a court of law,” she said.
The Kenyan authorities were investigating the circumstances of Ms. Cheptegei’s death, Peter Ogwang, Uganda’s state minister for sports, said on social mediaafter her death.
Donald Rukare, the president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, said on social media that the attack was “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”
A vigil was held for Ms. Cheptegei on Wednesday night, Ms. Indimuli said, with many women praying that she would survive. Now, she said, a team of campaigners had traveled to Eldoret to support her family, including her two children, and to help them navigate the aftermath of her death.
“We wanted to stand in solidarity,” she said. “At least we can be able to get justice.”
Jimmy Gitaka contributed reporting from Eldoret, Kenya.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news“
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