Less than a month after competing at the Paris Olympics, Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei passed away days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by a former boyfriend.

The 33-year-old Ugandan marathon runner, who finished 44th in the women’s marathon event at Paris, had suffered extensive burns after Sunday’s attack.

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“We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei… following a vicious attack by her boyfriend. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will continue to endure,” the president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, Donald Rukare, said in a social media post.

Cheptegei, who hailed from a region just across the border in Uganda, is said to have bought a plot in Trans Nzoia county and built a house to be near Kenya’s elite athletics training centres.

A report filed by the local police chief stated that the couple were heard fighting over the land where the house was built before the fire started. The report also stated that Marangach had sneaked into Cheptegei’s home on Sunday afternoon while she was at church with her children. She lived with her sister and her two daughters in Endebess, an area near the border with Uganda, said her father Joseph Cheptegei.

Joseph urged the Kenyan government to ensure justice was done after the death of his “very supportive” daughter. “We have lost our breadwinner,” he said and wondered how her two children, aged 12 and 13, would “proceed with their education.”

Dr Owen Menach, the head of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, said that the athlete had died after all her organs failed. According to Dr Menach, Cheptegei’s former boyfriend was also admitted to the hospital in Eldoret – but with less severe burns, and is still in intensive care but his condition was “improving and stable.”

Condoling the death of the athlete, the Uganda Athletics Federation said, “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete Rebecca Cheptegei. As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice. May her soul rest in peace,”

There are concerns about the increasing cases of violence against female athletes in Kenya. Cheptegei is the third to have been killed since October 2021. Before competing at the Paris Games, Cheptegei had finished 14th in the event at last year’s world championships in Budapest. In 2022, she won the mountain race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand.

Cheptegei’s death comes after the killings of fellow East African athletes Agnes Tirop in 2021 and Damaris Mutua the following year, with their partners identified as the main suspects in both cases by the authorities. Tirop’s husband is currently facing murder charges, which he denies, while a hunt for Mutua’s boyfriend continues.