Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, doused in petrol and set on fire by her partner, buried in Kenya

The 33-year-old athlete died of her injuries on September 5 after being set on fire on September 1 by her partner in Kenya, where she lived and trained.

The funeral of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, doused in petrol and set on fire by her partner in early September in Kenya, a few weeks after running the marathon at the Paris Olympics, took place on Saturday 14 September in Uganda, in the presence of her family and officials.

The 33-year-old athlete, who was also a sergeant in the Ugandan army, died of her injuries on September 5 after being attacked on September 1 by her partner in Kenya, where she was living and training. Her killer, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, 32, doused her in gasoline before setting her on fire. He himself suffered serious burns and died Monday in a Kenyan hospital.

Rebecca Cheptegei’s death has sparked an international outpouring of tributes and outrage. Human rights activists have denounced this latest femicide in Kenya, where two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, have been killed and their respective partners accused of the murders, since 2021.

Dozens of athletes travelled to the village of Bukwo, where Rebecca Cheptegei’s family lives, to attend the ceremony and pay tribute to the woman who finished 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics on August 11. “She contributed greatly to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” Alex Malinga, who trained her when she was a teenager, told AFP.

According to local media, Rebecca Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the murder. Police said her killer broke into her home while she was at church with her children.

The killing has once again highlighted what human rights activists call an epidemic of femicide in Kenya. According to the UN, the East African country reported 725 cases in 2022 alone. A report released the following year by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found that the proportion of women aged 15 to 49 who had experienced physical violence since the age of 15 was 34%.