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| Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei |
Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, has died after allegedly being set on fire by a Kenyan man. Rebecca Cheptegei: 6 Facts About Deceased Ugandan Athlete Allegedly Set on Fire by Kenyan Lover Cheptegei, who represented her country in major international competitions, sustained 80% burns from the attack. The incident left the athlete fighting for her life in hospital before she succumbed to the injuries. TUKO.co.ke shares six facts about the Olympic sportswoman whose life was cut short in a case of rage gone wrong.
1. How old was Cheptegei? Cheptegei, born on February 22, 1991, in Cheminy, Uganda, died aged 33 years and has been an athlete for over 15 years. The mother of two began competing professionally in 2010. Her first recorded result was a 15th-place finish in the 1,500 meters at the 38th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Poland.
2. Cheptegei’s track record Some of her achievements include winning the 2022 Padova Marathon in Italy and finishing second in the 10,000 meters at the Ugandan Championships. She won gold at the inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand in 2022, BBC reports. Her recent performances include a fourth-place finish at the 2022 ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon, where she set a personal best time of 2:22:47. She managed a 14th-place finish at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Cheptegei also represented Uganda at the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics.
3. Where was Cheptegei attacked? The alleged attack took place at her home in Endebes, Kenya, as she was returning home from church. Police say Cheptegei’s lover, identified as Dickson Ndiema, doused her with petrol and set her ablaze. He allegedly sneaked into the athlete’s compound and hid in a poultry house with five litres of petrol. Rebecca Cheptegei: 6 Facts About Deceased Ugandan Athlete Allegedly Set on Fire by Kenyan Lover
4. How severe were Cheptegei’s burns? Hospital authorities report that both Cheptegei and her attacker sustained burns, with Cheptegei in worse condition at 80%. She suffered extensive skin and inhalation burns, leading to complications in her throat and lungs. Doctors at the Intensive Care Unit worked hard to manage the pain and prevent multi-organ failure, but she succumbed to her injuries. Cheptegei died a day before her family actualised plans of airlifting her to Nairobi for specialised treatment.
5. Were Cheptegei, Ndiema married? Despite reports labelling the incident as a domestic dispute, Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, denied any romantic relationship between the two.”They were just friends, and I wonder why he wanted to take things away belonging to my daughter,” he told the media. He emphasized that his daughter is married, and her husband and two daughters, aged nine and 11, reside in Uganda.
6. What instigated attack on Cheptegei? In an earlier story, the family noted that the dispute was over land, which had been heading to court. Standing alongside Cheptegei’s sister, Evalyne Chelagat, her father expressed the family’s devastation and called for justice. “My daughter trusted him. They fell out recently, but nothing could justify this horrific attack,” he said. Speaking during the visit to the hospital, her family disclosed that they had visited the DCI late last week to solve the matter. It, therefore, left them confused that the aggrieved attacker descended on her just two days later.
by Hillary Lisimba