Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after allegedly being doused in petrol and set alight by her former partner, was buried Saturday with full military honours at her ancestral place in Uganda’s northeast.
Hundreds of mourners, including fellow Olympians from Uganda and Kenya, gathered for her funeral in Bukwo in Uganda’s northeast near the border with Kenya.
In speeches she was fondly eulogised as a hero, a mother and sister, and afterwards her body was lowered into her grave minutes after 5 p.m. (1200 GMT).
She was buried in full military honours, including a gun salute by the Ugandan military of which she was a member.
“She embodied the admirable spirit of resilience, selflessness, generosity and hard work, which worked together to catapult her to international glory,” said Kipchumba Murkomen, Kenya’s sports minister. Her death, he said, marked “a tragic end to a blossoming life”.
Ugandan Sports Minister Peter Ogwang condemned the “barbaric and cowardly” attack that had taken her life and said the government would give roughly $13,000 to each of Cheptegei’s children.
Cheptegei’s estranged husband, Simon Ayeko, with whom she had two daughters, said the family was “extremely saddened”.
“As a father, it has been very difficult,” he told the AFP news agency, adding that he had not been able to break the news to their children. “Slowly, we will tell them the truth.”
Cheptegei’s death sparked anger over the high levels of violence against women in Kenya, particularly in the athletics community. The marathoner was the third elite runner to die allegedly at the hands of a romantic partner since 2021.
One in three Kenyan girls and women aged 15 to 49 have suffered physical violence, according to government data from 2022.
Peoplesmind