Rebecca Cheptegei becomes third athlete murdered by partner in Kenya

Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who died of her injuries on Thursday, four days after she was set on fire by her boyfriend in her Kenya home, is the third female athlete to be killed by her partner since 2021.

According to reports from CNN and the BBC, Cheptegei’s death follows a worrying trend in Kenya, where several female athletes have been murdered by their partners in recent years.

All three of these cases occurred in Iten, the well-known Kenyan running centre.

Cheptegei, who trained in Kenya, began her international career at the age of 19, competing in the junior category at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships for Uganda. She later switched to road cycling and made her marathon debut in 2021.

The following year, Cheptegei set a personal best of 2:22:47, making her the second-fastest Ugandan female runner in history.

In the past three years, two more female Olympic athletes have died in Iten, Kenya.

In 2021, Kenyan authorities identified the husband of famed long-distance athlete Agnes Tirop as the prime suspect in her brutal murder. Tirop, who was 25, was fatally stabbed.

According to CNN, the suspect contacted Tirop’s parents and suggested his involvement, leading authorities to conclude that he was aware of the circumstances surrounding her death.

Police determined that Tirop had suffered fatal injuries to his neck from a knife.

Tirop won two consecutive bronze medals in the 10,000 metres at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and finished fourth in the 5,000 metres at the Tokyo Olympics.

She also improved the women’s 10km world record by 28 seconds at Germany’s Adizero Road to Records event, a historic feat achieved just a month before her death.

About six months later, another tragic incident occurred in the same city. Marathon runner Damaris Mutua was strangled by her boyfriend. He then tried to cover up his crime by putting a pillow on her face.

He subsequently fled the country and is still at large, authorities said, as reported by the BBC.

Mutua won a bronze medal for Kenya in the 1,000 metres at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010.

Mutua’s best season was in 2018, when she set personal bests in the 20 km (1:08:28), the fastest time that year, with a win in Marrakesh, and the half marathon (1:11:51), which took her second place in Mozambique.

According to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, released in January 2023, 34% of women in Kenya have experienced physical violence at some point in their lives since the age of 15.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced Friday that the city will pay tribute to the late Cheptegei by naming a sports facility after her.