Faith Kipyegon & Marco Arop alarmed by increasing gender-based violence against athletes

Faith Kipyegon and Marco Arop have weighed in on the increasing cases of gender-based violence subjected to athletes.

Ugandan marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei is the latest to die at the hands of her loved one after she was allegedly attacked by her ex-boyfriend who doused her with petrol and set her ablaze, leaving her with nearly 80 per cent burn wounds.

Cheptegei was buried on Saturday after succumbing to her injuries at the start of September and she joins Kenya’s Agnes Tirop and Kenyan-born Bahraini Damaris Mutua among female athletes killed by their lovers in recent years.

Olympics champion Joshua Cheptegei has called on Ugandan athletes training in Kenya to go back home in light of marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei’s killing in Trans Nzoia County.

“I really condemn that act; we need to end GBV. It is not a good thing to happen to athletes, not good to happen to women that every time we are burying somebody because of GBV,” Kipyegon told journalist Larry Madowo.

“To see Rebecca being buried after what happened to her hurts me a lot. It is hard.

“We urge our families if there is any problem if it can be sorted, they sit down and sort it out but to end someone’s life is not good. Just tell someone it is the end of the relationship, walk away and everything will work out.”

Tirop was stabbed to death by her husband in 2021 while Mutua was found strangled at her house in Iten, with her boyfriend the main suspect.

Following Tirop’s demise, a non-governmental organisation known as Tirop’s Angles was started to raise awareness of gender-based violence which Arop supports and he wears a vest with the message on his chest at various competitions, including last week’s Diamond League meeting in Brussels.

“Remember Agnes Tirop, this [Tirop’s Angles] started like kind of a tribute to her, you can follow the foundation, they raise awareness for domestic abuse,” Arop said.

The father of Ugandan athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has blamed police in Trans Nzoia for not arresting the situation early enough before his daughter was killed in cruel fashion last week.

“It is a great thing, I am always happy to wear it on my chest when I compete and when people ask, it shows it is working. If we don’t raise the awareness then it will keep going on until someone makes a change.”