The city of Paris will honour the legacy of murdered Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei by naming a sports venue after her,the French capital’s mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.
The proposal will be discussed by elected city officials in October.
Cheptegei died last Thursday at a Kenyan hospital where she was being treated after 80% of her body was burned in an attack by her ex-partner. She was 33.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month ago and finished 44th.
“Paris joins its elected representatives in expressing its support for the family of the athlete, victim of a femicide a few weeks after she participates in the Olympic Games,” Paris city hall said in a statement.
“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.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said this week that Cheptegei’s partner, Dickson Ndiema, bought a can of gasoline, poured it on her and set her ablaze during a disagreement last Sunday. Ndiema was also burned and was being treated at the same hospital.
Every 11 minutes on average, a woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family member somewhere in the world, according to figures from UN Women, the agency promoting gender equality, and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
“An emotional thought for Rebecca Cheptegei,” Hidalgo told a press conference on Friday, quoted by French media. “We saw her, her beauty, her strength, her freedom. Paris will not forget her, and we will dedicate a sports venue to her, so that her memory and her story will be present among us.”
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
Dickson Ndiema, the ex who doused Rebecca with petrol before setting her alight has consequently died of his injuries in the same hospital where she died.