Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after her partner set her on fire, gets a military funeral

Thousands of mourners in Uganda paid respects to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died last week in Kenya after her partner set her on fire, at a military funeral in a remote town near the Kenyan border.

Military officers played a prominent role in the funeral because Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda’s army, said military spokesman Brig. Felix Kulayigye, adding that she deserved a “gun salute that befits her rank.”

Athletes, family members and others delivered their eulogies before thousands in a sports field in the district of Bukwo.

Cheptegei, who was 33, will be buried later on Saturday.

The man accused of setting her on fire died in a Kenyan hospital of his own burns sustained during the incident. Dickson Ndiema died at the Moi Teaching Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, where Cheptegei also died several days after suffering burns in the dispute with her former boyfriend, which was allegedly over land.

Neighbors reported hearing voices before seeing Ndiema pour gasoline over Cheptegei as she returned from church with her two daughters on Aug. 31.  He, too, was seriously injured in the attack and succumbed in the hospital’s intensive care unit to complications from the burns, a hospital official said Tuesday.

“He developed respiratory failure as a result of the severe airway burns and sepsis that led to his eventual death,” Philip Kirwa, the hospital’s CEO, said in a statement.

Cheptegei suffered burns to more than 80% of her body and died on Sept. 5 of multiple organ failure. Police confirmed they were still investigating the incident.

The horrific gasoline attack shocked many and strengthened calls for the protection of female runners facing exploitation and abuse in the East African country.

Cheptegei’s body was returned to Uganda Friday in a somber procession following a street march by dozens of activists in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret who demanded an end to physical violence against female athletes.

Cheptegei is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in a worrying pattern of gender-based violence in recent years. Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted several marches this year.

Ugandan officials have condemned the attack, demanding justice for Cheptegei. First lady Janet Museveni, who also serves as Uganda’s education and sports minister, described the attack as “deeply disturbing.”

Don Rukare, chairman of the National Council of Sports of Uganda, said in a statement on X that the attack was “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”

A 2023 report by Kenya’s Bureau of National Statistics found that 34% of women had experienced physical violence after reaching the age of 15, with women who were or had been married almost twice as likely to report such violence.

Many Ugandan athletes train across the border in Kenya, an athletics powerhouse with better facilities. Some of the region’s best runners train together at a high-altitude center in Kenya’s west.

The city of Paris said it wants to honor Cheptegei, whose death was less than a month after she competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics and finished 44th.

On Friday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed the city name a sports venue after her. The proposal will be discussed by elected city officials in October.