The alleged killing of African Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei alarmed the sports world and heightened calls to address domestic violence internationally. 

Police said Cheptegei, 33, was severely burned by her former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema, in Kenya on Sept. 5. She was in critical condition for four days with 80% of her body burned, which led to multi-organ failure. Ndiema died a few days later from burns sustained in the attack.

This is the third time an elite female runner has allegedly been killed by their partner within the past three years in Kenya. In 2021, 25-year-old Agnes Tirop was found dead in her home with stab wounds in her neck. A few months later, 28-year-old Damaris Mutua was found strangled with a pillow over her face.

“So many of us are not encouraged to speak up when we face abuse,” Mailé Nguyen, a worker at a Chicago area nonprofit called KAN-WIN that supports survivors of gender-based violence, said. “Either because we’re afraid of the reaction or fallout with the harm-doer or because we’re afraid of our peers’ responses.”

With these recent deaths, many reports and conversations have been happening on topics of domestic violence. UN Women says that 48,800 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members in 2022. 

“I think, in general, sports are a place designed for and run by men, especially in countries where that patriarchal dynamic is even stronger, or where women have fewer rights or less visibility,” Vincent Peña, a DePaul professor who studies sports media, said. “(Cheptegei) being successful and having independence from a male partner can be something that threatens that structure of that country, especially the gender structure.”

Cheptegei built a 15-year career of running, from cross country, marathons and other long distance running. Her last marathon was at the Paris Olympics this past summer where she competed for her home country, Uganda, and finished 44th.

To continue her running career, Cheptegei’s parents said that she bought land in Trans-Nzoia County in Kenya and was starting to build a house so that she could be near the country’s elite athletic training centers.

A report filed by the local chief said Cheptegei and Ndiema were heard by neighbors, fighting about the land she had bought, and Ndiema was seen pouring liquid on Cheptegei before burning her. 

“Abuse … builds over time. Folks don’t enter relationships where they are being abused, in some way, at the beginning of the relationship,” Sonya Crabtee-Nelson, co-founder of the Illinois Coalition to Address Intimate Partner Violence-Induced Brain Injury, said. “Instead, it’s usually almost over-the-top at the beginning, and a lot of times, that abusive person has some sort of big story to share of their own abuse in their own life.”

Advocates like Crabtree-Nelson, an associate professor of social work at DePaul, said these types of killings shine a light on domestic violence, including cases closer to home.

Kara Welsh, a national gymnastics champion from Plainfield, Illinois, died in late August at Wisconsin-Whitewater. According to a report, Welsh was shot during a fight at an off-campus apartment by Chad T. Richards. A medical examiner determined Welsh suffered eight gunshot wounds. 

“Sometimes the media doesn’t even list that (the killing) was done by a partner,” Crabtree-Nelson said. “Later, when you really dig into it, you realize it was their abusive partner. Most instances, too, reports say the woman has called the police numerous times before or has tried to get away.”

One report noted that Cheptegei’s dad said he had contacted the police about a previous quarrel between Cheptegei and her boyfriend, but he claimed the police took no action.

“That’s why I think it’s critical for our communities to be educated on gender-based violence,” Nguyen said. “And how it takes many forms, so we can be trauma-informed and empathetic with the survivors in our lives.”

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