When news of Rebecca Cheptegei’s death broke earlier this month, it shook the athletics world, but left no one surprised. The details are gruesome but bear repeating: Cheptegei was allegedly doused with gasoline and set on fire by her former partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, outside her home in the village of Kinyoro, northwest Kenya. She suffered horrific burns to 80% of her body and died in hospital days later.
The reason few were surprised is that the Olympic marathoner was the third elite female athlete killed in Kenya in just three years. World medalist Agnès Tirop was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten in October 2021, just five weeks after setting a 10,000m road world record.
A few months later, Bahraini athlete of Kenyan origin Damaris Muthee Mutua was strangled to death in the same city. All of these murders have a common link: the main suspect in each case is their former romantic partner.
Aliphine Tuliamuk, a Kenyan-born long-distance runner, believes these cases are all directly linked to the fact that they were athletes. “His story is not unique,” Tuliamuk, 35, says of Cheptegei. “It’s something we’ve experienced over and over again.
“I grew up without much, and a lot of these athletes grew up with nothing. They worked so hard to make a name for themselves and earn a living so they could have a better life. And then the same success they were looking for is what kills them.
Running clubs become grooming centers
Tuliamuk grew up just over an hour’s drive from where Cheptegei, 33, was killed. Although she never ran in Cheptegei, she knew her as a fellow athlete and mother in long-distance running, and had seen her represent Uganda at the Paris Games only the month before.
Although Tuliamuk has represented the United States since 2016, including at the Tokyo 2020 Games, she was born and raised in Kenya. She says that over the years, she has heard similar stories at elite running centers in the area where she grew up, where hundreds of promising athletes dream of joining the professional ranks.
There, she claims, young or successful female athletes are preyed upon by men – often failed athletes themselves – who then begin romantic relationships with them and end up controlling their finances. When women try to regain control, the violence often becomes physical.
Tuliamuk says she knows stories of athletes who found themselves in financial ruin. Another had a partner who threatened to burn their house down, locking them inside, and she heard about a man who was made to sit on a hot stove by her husband. The abuse ended their careers.
“Everyone who comes from their village to training camps has heard about big names, like Eliud Kipchoge, and the kind of lifestyle they lead, the money they made in Everybody wants a piece of this pie,” Tuliamuk says. “It’s become a culture now, where a lot of these guys who try to run and don’t really succeed, they’re literally in training centers. like Iten, Nyahururu, and they are just looking to see a woman who has potential.
“They’ll take them under their wing, offer them a little financial help, pace them first, and then decide, ‘OK, I’m going to be your coach.’ When you have the opportunity to have one-on-one coaching, in theory , that would be a good thing. The girl is probably thinking, “Wow, this guy really cares about me.” But while she is successful, he is abusing her finances.
500 Kenyan women killed in eight years
This problem does not exist in isolation in athletics, but extends across Kenya. The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey found that 41 percent of married women had experienced physical violence. Africa Data Hub, which tracks cases of femicide reported in Kenyan newspapers, found that 500 women were killed between January 2016 and December 2023; 407 of the suspects were current or former partners of the victims.
According to Reuters, Cheptegei’s former partner Marangach was under investigation for his death before also dying in hospital, due to injuries sustained in the attack. Their dispute reportedly concerns land belonging to Cheptegei. The news agency also interviewed family members, who said Cheptegei had gone to the police at least three times this year to report Marangach for threats and physical violence. “My daughter died because the police failed,” her father, Joseph Cheptegei, told Reuters.
Some athletes have been pushed to try to implement changes over the past three years. Kenyan runner Mary Ngugi-Cooper, who won the Great North Run a few weeks ago, responded to Tirop’s death by establishing the Nala Track Club in 2022. It is an all-female running club located in the town of Nyahururu, which aims to give young women a supportive and safe space to train. Initially self-funded by Ngugi-Cooper, it has benefited from sponsorship from Nike since April and aims to train more female coaches in Kenya as well.
Tirop’s Angels Trust was founded by Kenyan athletes and Tirop’s family, with the aim of preventing violence against women and girls by engaging communities in prevention efforts. Its board of directors includes Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and London 2022 marathon champion Amos Kipruto.
Lord Coe vowed to support the cause
In response to Cheptegei’s death, World Athletics chief Lord Coe pledged to investigate how they can support and protect athletes from domestic violence. Tuliamuk says the sporting community must help break the taboo of domestic violence in Kenya and also called for more men to speak out on the issue.
“Absolutely, leading male athletes should speak out. It will take the whole community to have a conversation and change this,” she says. “I think World Athletics has a responsibility. I’m glad Seb Coe is bringing this issue to his attention as many athletes are suffering. But it’s vague. Relationships are very complicated. Unless an athlete comes forward and says, “I need help, my partner is abusing me,” I just don’t know how an organization like World Athletics can intervene.
More than anything, she says there needs to be a preventative system in place that empowers young female athletes and warns them about preparation tactics. “Do you know how we do anti-doping education? I think we need to start doing some education in these training camps, educating these young women. Prepare these girls to know some of the signs of an abusive relationship.
“And we need to have the appropriate channels to report.” We must have safe places. If a woman is in danger of losing her life, she should be able to go somewhere at any time and get away from that person. Right now, they don’t have any of that. I’m not saying we are in a situation of total helplessness, but the time to act was right yesterday – or years ago.”