Rebecca Cheptegei

The short and promising running career of Rebecca Cheptegei ended in tragedy less than a month after she had competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Cheptegei was a skilled distance runner, competing in cross-country races, long-distance events, and the marathon. Born in a village in Kenya on the border with Uganda, she competed internationally for the latter after joining the Uganda People’s Defence Force in 2008. In 2010 she began competing in races across Europe, including winning a 1,500 metres event in Germany. The following year she continued to have good results across multiple distances, with her best performance coming at the Madrid half-marathon, finishing second. Cheptegei continued to have consistent performances until all competitions ceased in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

In 2022 Cheptegei returned to racing where she won the Padua marathon in Italy and finished second in the 10,000 metres at the Ugandan athletics championships. Later that year she broke the national record for the marathon when she ran 2-22:47. At the end of the year she finished fourth in the Abu Dhabi marathon, earning herself a place on the Olympic team for the 2024 Paris Games. In Paris she finished 44th in the marathon but was only ten minutes behind the winning time.

Just three weeks after competing at the Olympics Cheptegei was involved in a brutal attack by her former partner, who doused her with petrol and set her on fire in her home in Kenya. She was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after suffering 80% burns to her body. Sadly she succumbed to her injuries and died of multiple organ failure a few days later. Cheptegei’s body was buried in Uganda with full military honours.