Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei in hospital after allegedly being set on fire

A Ugandan marathon runner who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics is in critical condition with burns over more than 75% of her body after police said her alleged boyfriend poured gasoline on her.

Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, is in the intensive care unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, after the attack on Sunday afternoon, Kenyan and Ugandan newspapers reported.

Cheptegei's boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, was also burnt in the attack, which police described as a domestic dispute. “The man was also caught in the same fire and sustained serious burns," Trans-Nzoia County police commander Jeremiah Ole Kosiom told The Star newspaper in Nairobi .

The hospital's acting CEO, Dr. Owen Menach, said Cheptegei also suffered external and inhalation burns. “She is a high-profile patient and we are doing all we can to save her life,” Menach said, The Star reported .

Cheptegei finished No. 44 in the women's marathon at the Paris Olympics .

Police: Suspect in attack on Ugandan athlete 'set her ablaze'

Marangach, who was also admitted to the hospital's ICU, had burns over about 30% of his body and was in better condition than Cheptegei, Menach said.

Police said Marangach was an ex-boyfriend who snuck into Cheptegei's home in Endebess in western Kenya ahead of the attack.

"The boyfriend is believed to have sneaked into the compound at around 2 p.m. on Sunday while the wife and the children were in church,' Kosiom said, the Kenyan newspaper The Standard reported. "Upon returning, Dickson, who had procured petrol, began pouring it on Rebecca before he set her ablaze."Cheptegei's father Joseph Cheptegei said the two had been separated for a long time and were involved in a land dispute and were about to appear before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Kenya, The Standard reported. He said Marangach had attempted to take over the a plot of land his daughter had purchased and developed near her training base in western Kenya.

Kosiom confirmed Rebecca Cheptegei and Marangach had quarrels over her land and said police are continuing to investigate.

“The two were rescued by neighbors who put out the fire and rushed them to hospital," Kosiom said. Police found a gas can and a burnt mobile phone thought to belong to Cheptegei at the scene, he said.

Attack on female Olympian just the latest in Kenya

This is just the latest in a series of incidents involving the death of Ugandan athletes.

Olympian Benjamin Kiplagat was fatally stabbed in Eldoret, Kenya, on December 31, 2023, the BBC reported .

In April 2022, Kenyan-born distance runner Damaris Muthee , who competed for Bahrain, was found strangled in the house in Iten, Kenya, where she was training, the BBC reported. Just six months earlier, another female athlete, Olympian Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death in the same town.

Contributing: Reuters.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider .

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei in hospital after allegedly being set on fire