On Friday, a powerful alliance of athletes and human rights activists took to the streets of Eldoret, demanding justice and immediate government action to end the surge of gender-based violence targeting women athletes.
Led by Tirop Angels Foundation founder and marathoner Viola Cheptoo, the athletes demanded the government to pay attention to the crisis facing women athletes, following the murder of Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei in the latest case in Kenya
Activist march in Eldoret following Cheptegei’s death.
The athletes were present as Cheptegei’s body left Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary, ahead of Saturday’s burial in Bukwo, home to her family in Uganda
“We’ve lost many athletes due to GBV and enough is enough. We don’t want again to hear any death which is associated with violence.
We are calling on the government to join us in this movement as we seek to lay down structures that will put to an end the vice,” said Cheptoo.
Rebecca Cheptegei succumbed to her wounds last week after being attacked on September 1 by her Kenyan partner, who poured petrol over her and set her on fire.
Rebecca is the third athlete to have died in Kenya as a result of gender-based violence since 2021, provoking a global outpouring of tributes and rage.
She was attacked outside her house in Endebass in Kenya by Dickson Ndiema Marangach who was also severely burned and later died in hospital on Monday.
A 2023 report by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics found 34 percent of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
