Paris to honor slain Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei by naming sports venue after her

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday that the city is planning to honor slain Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei with a sports venue in her name, The Associated Press reported.

Cheptegei, 33, succumbed to her injuries last Thursday in a Kenyan hospital after her boyfriend doused her in petrol and set her on fire. She is said to have sustained an 80% burn injury.

“Paris will not forget her and we will dedicate a sports venue to her, so that her memory and her story will remain among us, and help us carry even stronger the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Hidalgo said.

Cheptegei’s death came after she participated in the recently ended Paris Olympics . She competed in the women’s marathon and finished 44th.

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“Paris joins its elected representatives in expressing its support for the family of the athlete, victim of a femicide a few weeks after her participation in the Olympic Games,” City hall also said in a statement.

Cheptegei’s boyfriend attacked her on Sunday during an altercation. Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said the victim’s boyfriend set her on fire after dousing her with petrol that he had purchased.

“Most of her systems actually failed following the burns,” Dr Kimani Mbugua, a consultant at the hospital she was admitted, told journalists, per The Guardian . “The damage had already occurred by the time she was coming in. So we supported the organs as best as we could. But unfortunately, it was beyond what we could do.”

The deceased athlete’s family has since called on authorities to prosecute her boyfriend. “I have a lot of grief because I’ve lost my daughter. I seek your help so that this person who has killed my daughter can be prosecuted,” Cheptegei’s father, Joseph Cheptegei, told reporters at the hospital.

Per a 2022 report by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, about 34% of women in the East African nation have “experienced physical violence since age 15 and 13 per cent of women have experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives.”

“This tragedy is a stark reminder to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles,” Kenya’s sports minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, said .

“As a government, we remain committed to supporting justice for Rebecca. No one should have to go through such an ordeal.”

Cheptegei is survived by her two daughters.

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