Ugandan Olympic athlete set on fire by boyfriend with gasoline, in critical condition with 75% of her skin burned

On September 2 local time, the Kenyan police reported that a shocking violent incident occurred in Kenya. Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who ranked 44th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics and was the champion of the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.

Cheptegei bought land and built her own house in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. This place is close to the border between Kenya and Uganda and there are many sports training centers around. However, tragedy struck on September 1. On that day, after Cheptegei returned home from church, she had a fierce argument with her boyfriend, Dickson Ndimah, over land rights issues. The emotionally out-of-control Ndimah poured gasoline on Cheptegei and set her on fire, attempting to burn her to death. This atrocity caused 75% of Cheptegei's body to be burned. Her condition is currently critical. She has been fully sedated and is receiving all-out treatment in the hospital. Ndimah himself was also burned in the arson process and is also being treated in the hospital. The police have intervened in the investigation, but specific details of the case and whether Cheptegei's child was injured in the incident have not been disclosed for the time being.

This incident has attracted widespread attention. Cheptegei's father said he has been praying for justice for his daughter. In recent years, gender-based violence against female athletes has occurred frequently in Kenya. For example, in 2022, female track and field athlete Damaris Mutua was strangled to death. In 2021, famous long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death. Their partners or ex-partners are all suspected to be the murderers. These incidents not only bring great pain to the victimized athletes and their families, but also make society begin to reflect on how to better protect the safety of athletes, especially female athletes, and how to prevent gender-based violence and avoid similar tragedies from happening again. People are looking forward to Cheptegei being able to pull through and also hope that relevant departments can take effective measures to ensure that such violent incidents will not be repeated.