Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei dies after being set on fire

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei of Uganda has died, days after being set on fire in an alleged attack by her former boyfriend at her home in Kenya. Hospital authorities there say she had suffered burns to 80% of her body. Emmanuel Igunza reports from Nairobi.

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AGNES CHEPTEGEI: (Speaking Swahili).

EMMANUEL IGUNZA: The stunned and weeping mother of Rebecca Cheptegei shares the news of her daughter's death. "She was a good child - very polite," Agnes Cheptegei tells reporters. "She didn't have any issues."

On Sunday, Cheptegei had been admitted to Kenya's Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in a critical condition after an estranged partner had allegedly doused her in petrol and set her alight in front of her two young daughters.

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OWEN MENACH: She had kidney failure and cardiovascular failure, so...

IGUNZA: Dr. Owen Menach, the hospital's chief administrator, confirmed Cheptegei's death early this morning, saying she suffered severe burns which led to organ failure.

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MENACH: 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.

IGUNZA: Neighbors say Cheptegei and her ex-boyfriend had quarreled over the land where her house was built in Kenya's Rift Valley region. According to the father, Joseph Cheptegei, the athletes had bought land there to be near the many training centers in the region, considered to be the home of long-distance runners.

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JOSEPH CHEPTEGEI: (Speaking Swahili).

IGUNZA: "I am pained at my daughter's death," he says. "My family has not only lost a daughter, but the main breadwinner."

Kenya and Uganda sports ministers described the attack as cowardly and tragic, while Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei condemned the incident and called for the arrest of the suspect, Dickson Marangach, who also suffered 30% burns.

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JACKSON TUWEI: The kind of things that we are seeing - we have seen them in the past. It's a very sad situation. Now, that environment that she went through is definitely not a very happy one, and that is why we are condemning this particular issue.

IGUNZA: Only last month, the 33-year-old athlete had competed in the Paris Olympics, finishing 44th in the women's marathon race. Her father said her performance there was affected by the stress of the constant threats she was allegedly receiving from her former partner. She's the third top athlete to be killed in Kenya in the last three years. In 2021, long-distance Olympic runner Agnes Tirop was found stabbed at her home in Iten, near Eldoret town. Her husband is on trial for her killing. And in 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Mutua was strangled at her home.

LYNNE WACHIRA: The death of Cheptegei after an alleged domestic row (ph) attack has dominated the headlines beyond the sports fraternity for the past four days.

IGUNZA: Sports journalist Lynne Wachira says the mothers have reignited concerns over violence against women in Kenya.

WACHIRA: The message is simple. This has got to stop. It's one too many deaths involving female athletes in the hands of their partners.

IGUNZA: In January this year, thousands of women marched across Kenya to renounce rising cases of homicide and violence against women. Stop killing us, their banners read. In that month alone, over 20 women were murdered, according to local NGOs.

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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

IGUNZA: But many more deaths go unreported.

For NPR News, I'm Emmanuel Igunza in Nairobi, Kenya.

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