Ugandan athlete set on fire by her boyfriend weeks after competing at Paris Olympics

A Ugandan athlete living in Kenya was set on fire by her boyfriend and is receiving treatment for 75% burns, police said.

Rebecca Cheptegei, a distance runner who finished 44th in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was attacked in her house in western Trans Nzoia County.

Trans Nzoia police commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said that Cheptegei‘s boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, bought a can of petrol, poured it on her and set her on fire during a disagreement on Sunday.

Ndiema also sustained burn wounds, and both are receiving specialised treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city.

Cheptegei’s parents said their daughter bought land in Trans Nzoia to be near the county’s many athletic training centres.

A report filed by the local chief says the couple were heard fighting over the land where the house was built, before the fire started.

In 2023, Ugandan Olympic runner and steeplechaser Benjamin Kiplagat was found dead with stab wounds.

In 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee was found dead, and a post-mortem examination said she had been strangled.