Remembering Rebecca Cheptegei, one year after her tragic death

Today marks exactly one year since Uganda lost Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic marathoner whose life was cut short in one of the most shocking and heartbreaking tragedies to ever hit the athletics community.

Cheptegei, then 33, died from severe burns after she was set on fire by her partner in Endebess, Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya.

Doctors at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret revealed that she had sustained burns to 80 percent of her body. Despite days of medical effort, she succumbed when her organs failed.

News of her death was confirmed by the Uganda Olympic Committee president Donald Rukare, who described it as a “vicious attack” that robbed the country of a dedicated Olympian.

Cheptegei’s passing came just weeks after she had proudly represented Uganda at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she finished 44th in the women’s marathon. For a nation that treasures its distance runners, her death was not only a personal tragedy but also a devastating loss to Ugandan sport.

The assault, reportedly witnessed by one of her young daughters, sent shockwaves across East Africa. Her case drew painful parallels with other tragedies in the athletics world: the killing of Agnes Tirop in 2021 and the death of Damaris Mutua in 2022, both in Kenya’s Rift Valley, a region celebrated globally for producing world-class runners.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2023), 34 percent of women in the country have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, a sobering reminder of the wider crisis of gender-based violence that continues to claim lives, even among the most accomplished women in society.

One year later, Rebecca Cheptegei is remembered not only as an Olympian but also as a mother, a daughter, and an inspiration whose resilience carried her to the world’s biggest sporting stage. Her story remains a painful call for justice and for stronger action against violence targeting women.

May her legacy continue to shine beyond the darkness of her loss.