Uganda’s Olympian Cheptegei dies after being set on fireplace by boyfriend | Olympics Information

Marathon runner Cheptegei died aged 33 as a consequence of a number of organ failure after struggling 80 p.c burns when her boyfriend poured petrol on her and set her on fireplace in Kenya.

Uganda’s Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died 4 days after being set on fireplace by her boyfriend, the nation’s Olympic chief mentioned.

“We now have learnt of the unhappy passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei … following a vicious assault by her boyfriend,” Uganda Olympic Committee President Donald Rukare mentioned in a publish on X on Thursday.

The 33-year-old succumbed to the burns she suffered when her boyfriend poured petrol on her and set her ablaze in Kenya.

Rukare termed the incident a “cowardly and mindless act” and mentioned it had disadvantaged the nation of a “nice athlete”.

“Her legacy will proceed to endure,” he went on so as to add.

Cheptegei had sustained burns to three-quarters of her physique, the performing head of the Moi Educating and Referral Hospital (MTRH) within the Rift Valley metropolis of Eldoret, the place she was being handled, instructed reporters on Tuesday.

She died of a number of organ failure early on Thursday, hospital officers confirmed to native media retailers.

In keeping with Owen Menach, director of scientific providers at Moi Educating and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Cheptegei succumbed to a number of organ failure after struggling 80 p.c burns from the assault. She was admitted to MTRH’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Monday.

Figuring out the accused as her accomplice, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, police mentioned he doused Cheptegei with petrol and set her alight on Sunday at her house in Endebess within the western county of Trans-Nzoia.

The incident passed off simply weeks after Cheptegei participated within the girls’s marathon on the Paris Olympics, the place she completed forty fourth.

The Ugandan Olympic Committee known as for swift motion in a press release confirming Cheptegei’s dying.

“We urge the related legislation enforcement companies to take swift and decisive motion to deliver the perpetrator to justice for this cowardly and deplorable motion.”

Cheptegei started her profession in 2010 and represented Uganda in varied long-distance races, making her first Olympic look on the video games in Paris.

Her dad and mom travelled to Trans-Nzoia and instructed native media that their daughter had purchased land within the Kenyan county and constructed a home the place she stayed for her coaching.

She met Ndiema in Trans-Nzoia and the assault stemmed from a dispute over the home she owned, in accordance with a report in The Customary newspaper.

Kenyan media reported that certainly one of Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the assault at her mom’s house.

“He kicked me whereas I attempted to run to the rescue of my mom,” Kenya’s The Customary quoted her as saying.

“I instantly cried out for assist, attracting a neighbour who tried to extinguish the flames with water, but it surely was not potential,” mentioned the lady, who was not named.

Marangach was additionally wounded within the incident, sustaining 30 p.c burns on his physique.

The assault comes two years after Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was discovered useless in Iten, a world-famous operating hub within the Rift Valley.

And in 2021, record-breaking Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop, 25, was discovered stabbed to dying at her house in Iten in 2021. Her estranged husband is on trial over her homicide. He has denied the costs.