Paris To Name Sports Venue After Slain Ugandan Athlete Cheptegei

The city of Paris unveiled plan to honour late Ugandan Olympic runner, Rebecca Cheptegei, by naming a sports venue after her.

French capital’s mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the decision to immortalise the athlete on Friday.

LEADERSHIP reported that Cheptegei, who competed in the women’s marathon during the Paris Olympics last month, succumbed to severe burns on Thursday after being doused with petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend at her home in Kenya.

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“She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder,” Hidalgo told reporters.

“Paris will not forget her. We’ll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Hidalgo added.

Cheptegei who is 33, made her Olympic debut in the women’s marathon at the Paris Games, where she finished 44th.

Police and doctors say she was left with 80 percent burns after being attacked in front of her children on Sunday by her Kenyan partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach.