Rebecca Cheptegei running at the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships, Narnabi, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Murder of Cheptegei
On September 1, 2024, Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei was doused with petrol and set on fire by her ex boyfriend. She was admitted to a hospital with 80% of her body covered in burns and died on September 5.
Dickson Ndiema, Cheptegei’s ex boyfriend, killed her over a land dispute. The athlete bought land in Trans Nzoia county to be near Kenya’s athletic training centers. Her father said Ndiema was stalking and threatening her, but the police were little help. However, justice cannot be served because Ndiema died in a hospital on September 9, due to burns on 40% of her body, leading the criminal case to be dropped and an inquest to be opened.
Unfortunately, this horrific story is not unique in Kenya. Agnes Tirop and Damaris Muthee were star Kenyan runners who were murdered due to domestic violence. Muthee was strangled at 28 by a male Ethiopian runner, with whom she had a relationship with. Tirop was stabbed to death by her husband in 2021, prompting the East African country’s athletic program to acknowledge domestic violence as a major problem. Yet, stories like Cheptegei still occur, raising the question, does more need to be done to fix domestic violence?
The Surge of Domestic Violence
Female athletes facing domestic violence are not only in Kenya. University of Utah athlete Lauren McClusky was shot and killed by her former boyfriend, Melvin Rowlan in October of 2018. McClusky, 21 and her friends had reported Rowland, 37, was stalking and harassing her after she broke up with him after learning he was a registered sex offender. However, the university offered no help.
13% of athletes have reported being abused by their partners, proving these stories belong to some of the many female athletes finding themselves victims of domestic violence. Contact sports encourage violence and competition, causing violence off the field from male athletes, but sports have had a long history with sexism(unequal pay, disrespect towards women, etc.), letting the world know that women are okay to be bullied.
Of course, there are differing reasons that these women experienced violence, but the trend is that they were successful athletes who first survived assault through stalking, etc., showing that there is a culture where people think it’s okay to abuse their partners possibly because of their success (i.e., Cheptegei getting killed over a land dispute for her olympic training). This shows athletes can be treated as less and killed thusly and we as a people should learn from stories like Cheptegei, McClusky, Tirop, Muthee and many others and help this happen less so, hopefully, there won’t be any more horrific stories like this.
What Can be Done?
What can be done to fix domestic violence? A big thing is raising awareness. Talk about it, share stories and start discussions. This can help people being abused feel more comfortable about opening up and reaching for help. Another way you can help stop domestic violence is by not ignoring it. If you notice signs of abuse(bruising, broken bones, etc.), report it to the police.
Ways to help people experiencing domestic violence is to contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Start a conversation without judgment while remembering people can stay in relationships because of things like unhealthy power dynamics and trauma bonding and it can be hard to break those cycle and help them find a safe home/space for people experiencing a similar situation. This will allow less stories like Rebecca Cheptegei’s to happen.
