Paris Olympics runner Rebecca Cheptegei dies after attack by boyfriend: Uganda Olympic committee

Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed in last month’s Paris 2024 Olympics, has died after being attacked by her boyfriend, the head of the country’s Olympics committee said on Thursday.

“We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei … following a vicious attack by her boyfriend,” Donald Rukare, president of Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X.

Cheptegei had been in critical condition in a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya after the attack on Sunday afternoon. She had burns to over 75 per cent of her body after allegedly being doused with petrol by her boyfriend, local media reported on Monday.

Trans Nzoia county police commander Jeremiah Ole Kosiom told  The Star newspaper that Cheptegei’s boyfriend, named Daniel Ndiema Marangach, was also burnt in the attack, described as a domestic dispute.