Olympic marathon runner killed by ex-boyfriend buried

Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died has been buried in her father’s homestead in jap Uganda.

As she was additionally a member of Uganda’s armed forces, troopers carried the coffin and she or he was given a three-volley salute.

Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei with petrol slightly below a fortnight in the past exterior her dwelling in neighbouring north-west Kenya, near the place she educated.

The 33-year-old’s killing, and its brutal nature, left her household distraught and shocked many others the world over.

It underscored the excessive ranges of violence in opposition to girls in Kenya and the truth that a number of feminine athletes have been victims lately.

Amongst these on the sombre and emotional funeral ceremony in a college subject in Bukwo, Cheptegei’s dwelling district, have been fellow athletes sporting black T-shirts with the slogan “say no to gender-based violence”.

“We’re responsible as [a] authorities, but additionally the group is responsible,” Kenya’s Sports activities and Youth Affairs Minister Kipchumba Murkomen informed mourners.

“Allow us to say the reality. It isn’t true that we didn’t know even in the area people that Rebecca was going through household issues.”

Cheptegei and Ndiema had reportedly been wrangling over a chunk of land.

One in all her teammates on the latest Paris Olympics, Stella Chesang, additionally spoke.

“It’s actually a tragic second in Uganda… and all of us associates. As a workforce who we went to Paris with Rebecca, we actually felt it as a result of… we have been collectively, having fun with collectively and it’s actually unhappy,” she stated.

The Olympic marathon – wherein she got here forty fourth – was Cheptegei’s final race.

Earlier, along with her coffin on show and draped within the Ugandan flag, native leaders held a memorial service.

They noticed a second of silence and gave a standing ovation as they paid their respects to the late athlete.

Councillors stated Cheptegei lived “a easy and targeted life” and all the time supplied steering to her fellow athletes. “She impressed many youngsters within the space to hitch athletics,” one stated.

Additionally they proposed to call a highway and an area sports activities venue in her honour.

Cheptegei died in hospital 4 days after the assault. Docs stated she had suffered burns on greater than 80% of her physique which “led to multi-organ failure”.

Ndiema, who was additionally burned after a number of the gas splashed on his personal physique, died on Monday.

He attacked the mother-of-two after she returned from a service at a church, the God’s Dwelling Ministry.

The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, remembers a “fantastic… God-fearing individual”.

After listening to about what had occurred, she managed to talk to Cheptegei on the cellphone whereas she was in hospital.

The athlete first requested about her youngsters, who have been each effective, the pastor informed the BBC’s Africa Every day podcast.

Then Cheptegei talked about her attacker: “You imply Dickson just isn’t in a position to see all I’ve carried out for him? He couldn’t bear in mind even one or two issues I’ve carried out for him and cease setting me on hearth? Why has he carried out this to me?”

On Friday, members of the family, associates and activists in opposition to gender-based violence seen her coffin at a funeral dwelling within the Kenyan city of Eldoret, earlier than it was pushed away.

Her mom, Agnes Cheptegei, overlaying her face in anguish, was sporting a memento bag that the athlete obtained on the latest Olympics.

She was wearing a T-shirt which had the slogan “being a girl shouldn’t be a loss of life sentence” printed on it.

The mother-of-two was the third feminine athlete to be killed in Kenya during the last three years. In every case, present or former romantic companions have been named as the primary suspects by police.

In 2021, world-record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to loss of life and 6 months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.

Assaults on girls have develop into a serious concern in Kenya. In 2022 a minimum of 34% of ladies stated they’d skilled bodily violence, based on a nationwide survey.

Some observers are saying that feminine athletes have gotten more and more susceptible.

“[This is] as a result of they go in opposition to conventional gender norms the place the girl is simply within the kitchen and simply cooking and caring for children. However now feminine athletes have gotten extra impartial, financially impartial,” stated Joan Chelimo, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to assist spotlight the difficulty of violence in opposition to girls.

“We do not need this to occur to every other lady, whether or not an athlete or from the village, or a younger woman,” Rachel Kamweru, a spokesperson of the federal government’s division for gender and affirmative motion, informed the BBC.

When Cheptegei first bought into working, she joined the Uganda Individuals’s Defence Forces in 2008 which helped help her.

Her final race was on the Paris Olympics. Though she got here forty fourth folks in her dwelling space nonetheless referred to her as “champion”.

She gained gold on the World Mountain and Path Operating Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.