Ugandan athlete dies after assault

Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei died Thursday, days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya. The Daily Maverick reports that Cheptegei (33) who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in the attack on Sunday, making her the third sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. ‘We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei… following a vicious attack by her boyfriend,’ Donald Rukare, the president of the Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X. ‘May her gentle soul rest in peace, and we strongly condemn violence against women,’ he said. Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described her death as a loss ‘to the entire region’. ‘This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles,’ he said in a statement.