Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei died at the beginning of September.
An Olympic marathoner who died at the age of 33 at the beginning of September Rebecca Cheptegei was buried on Saturday in his home village of Bukwo, Uganda with military honors. He was a sergeant in the Ugandan Armed Forces.
Cheptegei, who finished 44th in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, suffered life-threatening burns at the turn of August-September in her country of residence in Kenya and died a few days later. Kenya’s Trans Nzoia County police chief said Cheptegei’s male friend doused him with fuel after an argument at the runner’s home and then set him on fire.
On Friday, Cheptegei’s body was flown from Kenya to Uganda for burial.
– We are very sad. As a father, this has been very difficult, Cheptegei’s ex-husband Simon Ayeko told news agency AFP.
According to Ayeko, the whole truth has not yet been told to Cheptegei and Ayeko’s two daughters.
– Slowly we tell them the truth.
According to Kenyan media, one of Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the abuse at her mother’s home. Also a suspected perpetrator Dickson Ndiema Marangach received burns in the skirmish and died a few days after Cheptegei.