Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei was treated for burns on 75% of her body after authorities say her boyfriend doused her with gasoline and lit her on fire Sunday.
The 33-year-old Ugandan distance runner competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics before moving to Kenya. Her parents said she bought land in the area because the location is conducive to training.
Authorities said Cheptegei and her boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, were heard arguing about the Trans Nzoia County property where she built her house before she was assaulted. It’s not clear if that disagreement was at the center of Sunday’s attack.
Ndiema was also burned after while pouring a canister of fuel on Cheptegei and lighting her ablaze. The pair is being treated at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city, according to the Associated Press.
Ugandan news outlet MTN reported Cheptegei, a marathon runner, made her Olympic debut in Paris as part of Uganda’s 25-person team. Only four of those athletes competed in non-running sports.
Uganda Athletics Federation confirmed the attack on social media where her wounds were described as “severe.”
According to national statistics recorded by UN Women Africa, 45 percent of Kenyan women aged 15–49 have experienced physical violence. Those acts of violence are most commonly committed by a romantic partner. That organization accuses Kenyan culture has a “social tolerance for violence against women.”
Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was found dead from strangulation in the Kenyan town of Iten in 2022, according to the BBC. Six months earlier, 25-year-old runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death in the same town. Men with whom those runners had been in a relationship were immediately named as suspects.