Olympic marathon runner killed by ex-boyfriend buried

Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died has been buried in her father’s homestead in eastern Uganda.

As she was also a member of Uganda’s armed forces, soldiers carried the coffin and she was given a three-volley salute.

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

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

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

Among those at the sombre and emotional funeral ceremony in a school field in Bukwo, Cheptegei’s home district, were fellow athletes wearing black T-shirts with the slogan “say no to gender-based violence”.

“We are guilty as [a] government, but also the community is guilty,” Kenya’s Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told mourners.

“Let us say the truth. It is not true that we did not know even in the local community that Rebecca was facing family problems.”

Cheptegei and Ndiema had reportedly been wrangling over a piece of land.

One of her teammates at the recent Paris Olympics, Stella Chesang, also spoke.

“It is really a sad moment in Uganda… and all of us friends. As a team who we went to Paris with Rebecca, we really felt it because… we were together, enjoying together and it is really sad,” she said.

The Olympic marathon – in which she came 44th – was Cheptegei’s last race.

Earlier, with her coffin on display and draped in the Ugandan flag, local leaders held a memorial service.

They observed a moment of silence and gave a standing ovation as they paid their respects to the late athlete.

Councillors said Cheptegei lived “a simple and focused life” and always offered guidance to her fellow athletes. “She inspired many children in the area to join athletics,” one said.

They also proposed to name a road and a local sports venue in her honour.

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

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

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

The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, remembers a “wonderful… God-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 BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

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 fire? Why has he done this to me?”

On Friday, family members, friends and activists against gender-based violence viewed her coffin at a funeral 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 Olympics.

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

The mother-of-two was the third female athlete to be killed 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 death and six months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.

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