Paris honors late Ugandan Olympian by naming sports venue after her
Paris Olympic Games, Olympic Games, Olympic Games, Paris Olympic Games 2024 (Photo: Reuters)
The city of Paris wants to honour the late Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei by naming a sporting venue after her.
The proposal was announced Friday by Mayor Anne Hidalgo and will be discussed by city officials in October.
Cheptegei died Thursday in a Kenyan hospital where she was being treated after 80 percent of her body was burned in an attack by her partner. She was 33.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month ago and finished 44th.
Paris will not forget her and we will dedicate a sports stadium to her, so that her memory and her story remain with us and we can convey even more strongly the message of equality, a message conveyed by the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Hidalgo said.
The city hall said in a statement that Paris joins its elected representatives in expressing its support for the family of the athlete, who was the victim of a femicide a few weeks after competing in the Olympic Games.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said this week that Cheptegei’s partner, Dickson Ndiema, bought a can of petrol, poured it on her and set her alight during a dispute on Sunday. Ndiema was also burnt and was treated at the same hospital.
According to figures from UN Women, the agency working for gender equality, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, every 11 minutes a woman or girl is murdered by her partner or family member somewhere in the world.
An emotional thought for Rebecca Cheptegei,” Hidalgo said. “She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her beauty, her strength, her freedom and it was probably her beauty, strength and freedom that were unbearable for the person who committed this murder,
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022, four in 10 women, or an estimated 41% of Kenyan women who are in a relationship or married, have experienced physical or sexual violence by their current or most recent partner.
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First publication: 07 Sep 2024 | 10:04 am IST