Ugandan Olympian in intensive care after ex-boyfriend 'set her on fire'

Uganda's Rebecca Cheptegei and in the centre competing in the women's marathon final the World Athletics Championships in 2023. GETTY IMAGES

Ugandan Olympian, Rebecca Cheptegei, who recently took part in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games marathon event, is in critical condition in Kenya after an ex-boyfriend attacked her using petrol over the weekend.

On Tuesday officials revealed that Dickson Ndiema Marangachon, a former partner of Cheptegei, had snuck into her home in western Kenya while she and her children were at church on Sunday before dousing her in petrol and setting fire to her.

"Dickson, who had procured petrol, began pouring it on Rebecca before he set her ablaze," said local police chief Jeremiah Ole Kosiom, who also confirmed that Kenyan Marangachon had been injured in the blaze.

The 33-year-old long-distance runner, who won gold at the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand and finished 44th in the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon, is now in intensive care in a Kenyan hospital with burns to more than 75% of her body.

According to reports, both Cheptegei and her attacker Marangachon were rescued by neighbours who took them to the nearby Kitale County Referral Hospital.

They were then transferred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, the main town in the region, where Cheptegei was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition.

"Her condition looks serious with facial burns and bandages," an anonymous MTRH staff member told AFP.

We regret to announce that our athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed at the Olympics has suffered severe injuries and is hospitalized at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. This follows an incident involving her Kenyan boyfriend pouring petrol and setting fire on her pic.twitter.com/rgnWvgTpkb
— Uganda Athletics Federation-UAF (@UgaAthletics2) September 3, 2024

According to Cheptegei's parents, who travelled from Uganda to visit her, she had bought land and built a house in Endebess in the Trans-Nzoia area of Kenya to be close to Kenya's many athletic centres where she had been training.

There are reports that there is an ongoing dispute between the two over the piece of land which the local police are currently investigating.

Attacks on female athletes are a growing concern in Kenya with some having resulted in death in recent years. In April 2022, Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was found dead at her home in the Rift Valley town of Iten in the west of the country, a world-renowned running hub.

It came only months after 25-year-old record-breaking runner Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death at her home in the same area.

Tirop's estranged husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich went on trial charged with the athlete's murder last year but pled not guilty at Eldoret High Court. The case is ongoing.