The mayor of Paris has announced that a sports venue in Paris will be named after Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after her ex-boyfriend allegedly set her on fire.
The 33-year-old mother died with severe burns after her former partner allegedly doused her in petrol and set her on fire outside her home in north-western Kenya last Sunday. Kenyan police said that they were treating her death as murder.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said that dedicating a sports venue after Cheptegei would help her memory and her story remain intact. She competed in the Olympic marathon in the French capital. Ms Hidalgo said that the runner had dazzled onlookers at the Olympic Games, adding: "Paris will not forget her.
"Her beauty, strength and freedom were intolerable for the person who committed this murder," she said. "We'll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games."
Joan Chelimo, a fellow athlete of Cheptegei's, said women need to "come together" following the incident. “I knew Rebecca as a person and we were together at the Paris Olympics,” she reminisced.
“She was a mum and was hard working to be at the Olympics. She was the breadwinner of her family, and other girls looked up to her.
“We are still hoping, and trying to hope, that the perpetrators will be held accountable for their wrongdoings." At 19, Cheptegei first represented Uganda in an under-20 race at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships and later transitioned to longer road races, making her marathon debut in 2021.
She recorded a personal best of two hours 22 minutes and 47 seconds the following year, making her the second-fastest Ugandan woman of all time, which allowed her to support her family with earnings from running international meetings. Ms Chelimo stated that she felt that some men feel intimidated by female athletes who are going beyond the traditional norms of men providing everything.
“They are becoming more financially stable, they are becoming more independent, and I think their ex-partners don’t like the fact we are becoming independent, we are raising our voices more," she said. A report filed by a local administrator alleged the athlete and her ex-partner had been wrangling over a piece of land.
Attacks on women have become a major concern in Kenya, with - in 2022 - at least 34% of women saying that they had experienced physical violence, according to a national survey.
