Rebecca Cheptegei. Photo/Courtesy of UAAF
To the athletics fraternity and people close to her, the death of Rebecca Cheptegei on September 5 was devastating, but not surprising.
Friends and family members shared yesterday that Cheptegei lived a distressed life in the past year and was unsettled in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, held between July 26 and August 11.
Ms Grace Chesang, the national athletics female coach and also Uganda People’s Defense Forces coach, who had tutored Cheptegei for close to a decade, said the 33-year-old worried that someone would douse her in petrol, set her ablaze, and end her life.
“I noticed Rebecca wasn’t fine as we prepared for the 2024 Paris Olympics. So, I sat her down and asked what the problem was. She did not elaborate but said someone wanted her dead,” Chenango said.
Ms Chesang, a former runner who came through the UPDF athletics ranks and became a coach in 2012, said: “At the athletics camp in Kapchorwa District, she always attempted to escape. She once came to my house, much to the chagrin of national athletics coach Benjamin Njia, who felt Rebecca did not disclose to him why she was leaving the camp. I asked her to share her story, but she said all was not well back home in Kenya.”
The preparations would continue, but the fraternity got anxious and Chesang informed them she had reported the matter to the police authorities in Kenya, although the threats continued.
Between June and July, it was reported that a figure was lurking in the shadows of the training camp and was after the life of the marathoner, who only joined the team in Paris on August 8 because her race would come later on August 11.
Deceased Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei. PHOTO/FILE/HANDOUT
A friend and fellow athlete, who preferred not to be named, said Rebecca shared stories during bedtime at the camp of how her former boyfriend wanted to hijack a property.
“At the heart of the problem was a house she said she had built but her former boyfriend wanted to take it away from her. Rebecca constantly said she was not willing to let her hard-earned property go. She said her former boyfriend had another woman and wanted to settle in the house,” a friend shared.
“She was so stressed and we told her to let the issues be until we return from Paris. A few days later, she said she had instructed a court in Trans Nzoia to halt proceedings until she returns from the Olympics,” she added.
August arrived and Cheptegei travelled to Paris physically sound, but might have been mentally drained. Rebecca finished 44th in the women’s marathon final.
When the team returned, Kampala was awaiting to dine and wine, thanks to the gold medal from Joshua Cheptegei over the 10,000m race and to the Silver medal from Peruth Chemutai over the 3,000m steeple chase.
“As we prepared to go to Parliament on August 15 to attend the special sitting to honour our athletes, Cheptegei wondered how long she would live because someone wanted to kill her. So I told her to engage police and she said the authorities in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County, Kenya, were aware,” Chesang added.
“I told her not to go to Kenya because it was now evidently dangerous for her. She said she just wanted to go and check on her two children and then return to Uganda. And that was the end of our interaction,” the coach said.
The court case was to be heard on Monday, September 2 but Cheptegei was burnt on Sunday.
Details remain scanty, but friends said the relationship between Rebecca and Marangach had broken down a few years ago and the athlete was living with her two children from a previous relationship.
Cheptegei died at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, after her boyfriend Dickson Ndiema Marangach doused her in petrol and set her ablaze.
Cheptegei suffered 80 percent burns to her body and died from multiple organ failure.
Trans Nzoia County police commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said last week that the athlete had been doused in petrol by her boyfriend, who stormed her house with a jerry can of gasoline and set fire to her after a disagreement over land. Marangach is undergoing treatment after he, too, suffered burns during the attack.
Cheptegei died at about 5.30am due to multiple organ failure after she suffered 80 percent burns to her body.
“She had a severe percentage of burns which unfortunately led to multiple organ failure and ultimately her passing,” said Dr Kimani Mbugua, a consultant at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.
“There was kidney failure, cardio-vascular failure, and most of her systems failed following those burns. So, we supported the organs the best as we could. Unfortunately, it was beyond what we could do,” he added.
“Rebecca was our pillar because she was educating her siblings who are still in school and it’s so sad we lost her in such a manner,” her father Joseph Cheptegei said.
By Friday afternoon, a contingent comprising members of Kamuchaki clan, where Rebecca Cheptegei belonged, had travelled to Kenya to oversee repatriation of her body and burial arrangements for the late athlete.
Mr Paul Mumya, the chairperson of the clan, said they had last evening agreed to bury the athlete at their ancestral home in Bukwo District on Saturday.
