Ugandan Olympian suffers 80 percent burns after partner 'set her on fire'

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00:00But first, Ugandan distance runner Rebecca Cheptege is currently in intensive care in Kenya

00:06after her boyfriend doused her in petrol and set her on fire at her home in Endavis.

00:11The 33-year-old had not long ago returned from the Paris Olympics where she placed

00:1644th in her event. She's reportedly sustained over 80 percent burns in the attack.

00:22Our Bastian Renwi brings us more from Nairobi.

00:25Rebecca Cheptege is in critical condition. She's currently hospitalised in Eldoret,

00:33a town where many international athletes train. According to the police, at least 75 percent of

00:37her body was burnt after she was allegedly attacked by her former boyfriend. According

00:42to the police, several neighbours witnessed the attack. They said that they first heard

00:46an argument between the two before seeing a man pouring liquid on Cheptege's body and

00:52burning her. The circumstances of this attack are still unclear. But according to several

00:57local sources, there was an ongoing dispute about a land and house that she recently bought

01:01in the region to live nearby her training centre. An investigation is ongoing.

01:06It's not the first time that an attack against a female athlete occurs in the country.

01:11In 2022, Damaris Mutua was strangled to death. And a year before, Agnes Tirop was killed. She

01:20was stabbed several times in 2021. The main suspect, her husband, is yet to be judged three

01:26years later.

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