Olympic Runner Rebecca Cheptegei’s Neighbor Recalls Her ‘Running Towards My House on Fire’ Before Her Death
The long-distance runner's former partner allegedly doused her with gasoline before setting her on fire, authorities in Kenya said
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Rebecca Cheptegei’s neighbor said the late Olympic runner was “on fire” and asked her to help in the moments after the athlete’s former partner doused her with gasoline.
"I was in the house and heard people screaming 'fire,’ ” Agnes Barabara said, according to the BBC. "When I came out, I saw Rebecca running towards my house on fire, shouting, ‘Help me.’ ”
She continued, “As I went to look for water and started calling out for help, her assailant appeared again and doused more petrol on her. But then he too got burned and he ran off towards the garden to try to put it out. We then went to help Rebecca.”
The 33-year-old runner — who raced for Uganda in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics last month — was transported to a local hospital in Kenya after the attack on Sunday, Sept. 1.
She died four days later from “full organ failure," after suffering burns to almost 80% of her body in the attack, in which her former partner Dickson Ndiema was also seriously injured.
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The long-distance runner had just returned from church with her children and was heard arguing with Ndiema about the land in Trans Nzoia County in western Kenya on which she had built a home, ABC News reported.
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Ndiema is set to be arraigned in court once he is discharged from the hospital, the BBC reported.
“I have a lot of grief because I’ve lost my daughter,” Rebecca’s father Joseph Cheptegei told reporters at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya on Thursday, Sept. 5, where the long-distance runner died. “I seek your help so that this person who has killed my daughter can be prosecuted.”
Cheptegei, the mother of two young daughters, finished in 44th place at the Paris Olympics with a season's best time of 2:32:14. Her previous best marathon time was in December 2022, when she ran 2:22.47 at the Abu Dhabi Marathon.
Her neighbor Barabara and others who live in the rural community recall waving to the runner while she completed her training runs.
"She was a very good neighbor and just recently she shared with me maize she’d harvested,” Barabara said.
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