The Ugandan marathon runner represented her nation at each the Paris Olympics and the World Championships in Budapest
Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei is in crucial situation in hospital after allegedly been doused in petrol and set on hearth by a former boyfriend.
The 33-year-old, who represented Uganda on the latest Paris Olympics and final yr’s World Championships in Budapest, was attacked in her residence in Endebess, Western Kenya.
Cheptegei suffered burns to 75% of her physique and she or he was reportedly rescued by neighbours when the incident occurred (September 1).
Trans Nzoia County’s police commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom instructed journalists that the alleged attacker additionally sustained severe burns.
He added: “The couple had been heard quarrelling exterior their home. In the course of the altercation, the boyfriend was seen pouring a liquid on the girl earlier than burning her.”
A report filed by a neighborhood administrator within the area mentioned that the previous boyfriend had attacked Cheptegei because of a disagreement over the land by which her residence was constructed on.
Rebecca Cheptegei in Budapest (Getty)
After studying of the assault, the Ugandan Athletics Federation acknowledged: “We remorse to announce that our athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed on the Olympics has suffered extreme accidents and is hospitalised at Moi Educating and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. This follows an incident involving her Kenyan boyfriend pouring petrol and setting hearth on her.”
In addition to competing within the marathon on the Olympics and World Championships, Cheptegei additionally received gold on the 2022 World Mountain and Path Working Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
She is the most recent sufferer in assaults throughout feminine athletes in Kenya.
Again in October 2021 Agnes Tirop, who was a double world 10,000m medallist and a earlier holder of the ladies’s-only world 10km file, was discovered stabbed to dying.
Within the wake of her killing, Tirop’s Angels was based – an organisation based by Kenyan athletes and Tirop’s household – to face in unity towards gender-based violence.
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