Late Ugandan Olympian, Cheptegei to be laid to rest today 

Uganda is set to bid farewell to Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei on Saturday, following her tragic death earlier this month.

The 33-year-old marathon runner succumbed to severe burns after being attacked by her partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, in a shocking act of gender-based violence in Kenya.

Cheptegei, who made her Olympic debut this summer in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, has become a symbol of the urgent need to address violence against women in East Africa.

Her death has sparked a global wave of tributes, with activists raising awareness about the ongoing threat of gender-based violence.

Her body was transported across the Kenya-Uganda border late Friday, in the midst of rainfall, to her family’s village in Bukwo, located 380 kilometers northeast of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, where she will be laid to rest.

“We are extremely saddened,” said her estranged husband Simon Ayeko, with whom she had two daughters.

“As a father it has been very difficult,” he told AFP, explaining he had not been able to break the news to their children.

“Slowly we will tell them the truth.”

Cheptegei, a sergeant in the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, will be buried starting around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) with military honours, Beatrice Ayikoru, Uganda’s Olympics Committee secretary general and part of the burial organising committee, told AFP.

Scores of athletes have travelled to the small village to attend.

“She greatly contributed to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” coach Alex Malinga, who trained her as a teenager, told AFP.

– ‘Relationship soured’ –

Local media say Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the attack. Police said Marangach snuck into her home while she was at church with her children.