Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei is the latest runner to lose her life following a case of domestic violence.
Cheptegei, who emerged 44th in the marathon at the Paris 2024 Olympics, succumbed to burn wounds after her boyfriend allegedly poured petrol on her and set her on fire following an altercation at her home in Trans Nzoia County.
Her tragic death increases the number of female athletes in the region who have lost their lives at the hands of people who were supposed to be protecting them.
But as the athletics fraternity deals with the latest death, who are the other female athletes to have died in tragic fashion following a disagreement with their lovers?
On 12 September 2021, Agnes Tirop set a new women’s only 10km road running world record in Herzogenaurach, Germany but just five weeks later, she had been killed.
The two-time world 10,000m bronze medallist was allegedly stabbed to death by her husband in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County on October 13, 2021.
Tirop had multiple stab wounds in the neck and abdomen following a domestic altercation. Police found her car windows shattered before a search for her husband Ibrahim Rotich ensued.
Having tried to flee the country, Rotich would later be arrested and charged for the murder of the athlete and the case is still ongoing.
Tirop was a highly decorated athlete who besides winning two World Cross-Country titles, also claimed as many world junior crowns, but her life was tragically cut shot at the age of 25.
In April 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini Damaris Mutua was found strangled at her home in Iten with a pillow over her face.
Mutua competed at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and won bronze in 1,000m before she later switched allegiance to Bahrain, managing second place at the Arab Cross-Country Championship before a third place at the Luanda half marathon.
Despite switching nationalities, the athlete had been training in Kenya but on the fateful day, she was alleged to have had an altercation with her Ethiopian boyfriend.
Police suspected her boyfriend Ethiopian runner Koki Fai who fled the country after her death.
