Thousands mourn Ugandan Olympian killed by ex-partner
Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was tragically set on fire by her former boyfriend and later passed away, has been laid to rest at her father’s homestead in eastern Uganda.
As a member of Uganda’s armed forces, soldiers carried her coffin and honored her with a three-volley salute.
Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei with petrol just under two weeks ago outside her home in northwest Kenya, near her training area.
The 33-year-old’s death, marked by its brutal nature, has devastated her family and shocked people worldwide. It highlights the alarming levels of violence against women in Kenya and underscores that several female athletes have fallen victim in recent years.
At the somber funeral held in a school field in Bukwo, Cheptegei’s home district, fellow athletes wore black T-shirts with the message “say no to gender-based violence.”
Kenya’s Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, addressed the mourners, acknowledging the government’s and community’s failures. “We are guilty as a government, but the community is also guilty,” Murkomen said. “Let us be honest. It is not true that we were unaware of Rebecca’s family issues in the local community.”
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.
Councilors 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 honor.
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.
