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A Ugandan Olympian was killed by her ex-boyfriend for burial

EPA Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei poses for a photo as Team Uganda heads to the Paris 2024 Olympics at State House in Entebbe, Uganda, 16 July 2024EPA

Rebecca Cheptegei’s last race was at the Paris Olympics

Ugandan Olympic Marathon runner, Rebecca Cheptegei, who was burned to death by her ex-boyfriend, will be buried with a state funeral on Saturday.

Dickson Ndiema attacked him with petrol about two months ago outside his home in northwest Kenya, near where he was training.

The killing of the 33-year-old man, and his brutal condition, left his family devastated and shocked many around the world.

It highlighted the high level of violence against women in Kenya and the fact that several female athletes have been victims in recent years.

Cheptegei died in hospital four days after the attack. The doctors said that he had burned more than 80% of his body, which led to the failure of many organs.

Ndiema, who was also burned after some of the oil poured on his body, died on Monday.

He attacked the mother of two children while returning from the church service, God’s Dwelling Ministry.

The pastor there, Caroline Atieno, remembers “a wonderful person… who fears God”.

After hearing about what happened, he was able to talk to Cheptegei on the phone while he was in the hospital.

The athlete first asked about his children, both of whom were doing well, said the teacher BBC Africa Daily podcast.

Cheptegei then spoke about his attacker: “You mean Dickson doesn’t see everything I did for him? He doesn’t even remember one or two things I did for him and stop setting me on fire? Why did he do this to his mother? Me?”

Agnes Cheptegei is helped as she mourns her daughter and Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after her ex-boyfriend doused her with petrol and set her on fire, at Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital (MTRH), Eldoret, Kenya, on September 13. 2024Reuters

Cheptegei’s mother, Agnes, (left) wore the bag her daughter received from the Paris Olympics when she viewed her coffin on Friday.

Cheptegei’s funeral was held in Bukwo, his family’s home in Uganda and near the Kenyan border.

On Friday, family members, friends and activists against gender-based violence viewed her coffin at a funeral home in the Kenyan city of Eldoret, before it was taken away.

His mother, Agnes Cheptegei, covering her face in pain, was wearing a souvenir bag that the athlete received at the recent Paris Olympics, when he finished 44th in the race.

She was wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “being a woman should not be a death sentence”.

The mother of two was the third female athlete to be killed in Kenya in the past three years. In each case, current or former partners have been named as prime suspects by police.

In 2021, world record holder Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death and six months later Damaris Mutua was strangled.

The community of Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei is in mourning

Attacks on women have become a serious problem in Kenya. By 2022 at least 34% of women say they have been physically abused, according to a national survey.

Some observers say that female athletes are increasingly vulnerable.

“[This is] because they are against the traditional rules of gender where a woman is in the kitchen and cooks and takes care of the children. But now female athletes are independent, they are financially independent,” said Joan Chelimo, who founded Tirop’s Angels to help highlight the issue of abuse against women.

“We don’t want this to happen to any other woman, be it an athlete or a villager, or a little girl,” Rachel Kamweru, spokesperson for the government’s gender and affirmative action ministry, told the BBC.

When Cheptegei started running, he joined the Uganda People’s Defense Forces in 2008 which helped support him.

His last race was at the Paris Olympics. Even though he came in 44th place, people in his hometown still call him “champion”.

He won gold at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2022.

Getty Images/BBC A woman looks at her mobile phone and a photo of BBC News AfricaGetty Images/BBC

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