Sunday, September 8, 2024 - A Paris sports site has been renamed after Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei after she was burned alive by her ex-boyfriend
The athlete succumbed to horrendous injuries on
Thursday, September 5, sustained after she was doused in petrol and
set alight in her home.
The 33-year-old suffered burns to 80 percent of her body in
Sunday's brutal attack that was allegedly carried out by her ex-boyfriend,
according to medical officials.
She was rushed to the intensive care unit at the Moi
Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. But yesterday the
facility's acting director Dr Owen Menach confirmed Cheptegei had died.
Now Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced that a
sports site in the capital has been renamed after the runner, while paying
tribute to the Ugandan athlete, Le Monde reports.
She said: 'Paris will not forget her.
'We will dedicate a sports site to him so that his memory
and his history remain among us and contribute to carrying the message of
equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
'She dazzled us here in Paris.
We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it
was probably her beauty, her strength, and her freedom that were intolerable
for the person who committed this murder.'
Cheptegei competed in the marathon at the Olympics last
month, finishing in 44th place.
Kenyan police confirmed the runner was attacked at her house
in western Trans Nzoia County, close to the Ugandan border, where she had
recently relocated to be closer to superior Kenyan training facilities.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said
her former partner Dickson Ndiema had bought a can of petrol, poured it on her,
and set her ablaze during a disagreement on Sunday.
Police discovered a five-litre jerry can, a bag, and a
burned phone at the scene of the incident.
Dr Menach told Kenyan press: 'Unfortunately, we lost her
after all her organs failed.'
The president of the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) Donald
Rukare said in a post on X: 'We have learnt of the sad passing on of our
Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei... following a vicious attack by her
boyfriend.
'This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the
loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will continue to endure,' he added.
A press release from the UOC bearing Rukare's signature
later urged law enforcement agencies 'to take swift and decisive action to
bring the perpetrator to justice'.
President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe said: 'Our sport
has lost a talented athlete in the most tragic circumstances.
'Rebecca was an incredibly versatile runner who still had a
lot to give on the roads, mountains and cross-country tracks.'
Rebecca's father Joseph Cheptegei, speaking earlier this
week from hospital alongside his other daughter Evalyne Chelagat, claimed that
the two were fighting over her land at Endebes in Trans Nzoia shortly before
the alleged attack occurred.
'They were just friends and I wonder why he wanted to take
away things belonging to my daughter,' Cheptegei Snr told The Star, revealing
also that his daughter's two children are fathered by a different man living in
Uganda.
He went on to claim that Cheptegei and Ndiema, who he
alleges have been separated for a long time are involved in a case being
investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kenya.
According to Cheptegei Snr and Police Commander Kosiom, the
ex-boyfriend sneaked into his daughter's home to stage the attack.
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