Saturday, September 7, 2024 -A Paris sports site has been renamed after Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei after she was burned alive by her ex-boyfriend
The athlete succumbed to horrendous
injuries on Thursday, September 5, sustained after she was doused
in petrol and set alight in her home.
The 33-year-old suffered burns to 80
percent of her body in Sunday's brutal attack that was allegedly carried out by
her ex-boyfriend, according to medical officials.
She was rushed to the intensive care
unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. But
yesterday the facility's acting director Dr Owen Menach confirmed
Cheptegei had died.
Now Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo
has announced that a sports site in the capital has been renamed after the
runner, while paying tribute to the Ugandan athlete, Le Monde reports.
She said: 'Paris will not forget her.
'We will dedicate a sports site to him so
that his memory and his history remain among us and contribute to carrying the
message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic
Games.
'She dazzled us here in Paris.
We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her
freedom, and it was probably her beauty, her strength, and her freedom that
were intolerable for the person who committed this murder.'
Cheptegei competed in the marathon at
the Olympics last month, finishing in 44th place.
Kenyan police confirmed the runner
was attacked at her house in western Trans Nzoia County, close to the Ugandan
border, where she had recently relocated to be closer to superior Kenyan
training facilities.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander
Jeremiah ole Kosiom said her former partner Dickson Ndiema had bought a can of
petrol, poured it on her, and set her ablaze during a disagreement on Sunday.
Police discovered a five-litre jerry can, a
bag, and a burned phone at the scene of the incident, according to Kenyan
newspaper The Nation.
Dr Menach told Kenyan press:
'Unfortunately, we lost her after all her organs failed.'
The president of the Uganda Olympic
Committee (UOC) Donald Rukare said in a post on X: '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,' he added.
A press release from the UOC bearing
Rukare's signature later urged law enforcement agencies 'to take swift and
decisive action to bring the perpetrator to justice'.
President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe
said: 'Our sport has lost a talented athlete in the most tragic circumstances.
'Rebecca was an incredibly versatile runner
who still had a lot to give on the roads, mountains and cross-country tracks.'
Rebecca's father Joseph Cheptegei, speaking
earlier this week from hospital alongside his other daughter Evalyne Chelagat,
claimed that the two were fighting over her land at Endebes in Trans Nzoia
shortly before the alleged attack occurred.
'They were just friends and I wonder
why he wanted to take away things belonging to my daughter,' Cheptegei Snr told
The Star, revealing also that his daughter's two children are fathered by a
different man living in Uganda.
He went on to claim that Cheptegei
and Ndiema, who he alleges have been separated for a long time are involved in
a case being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)
in Kenya.
According to Cheptegei Snr and Police
Commander Kosiom, the ex-boyfriend sneaked into his daughter's home to stage
the attack.
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