Viola Cheptoo: Why GBV is a threat to athletics development

Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the marathon at the Paris Olympics for Uganda, died on September 5 after suffering burns to over 80% of her body in an attack allegedly perpetrated by her former boyfriend, Dickson Ndiema Marangach. Marangach later died from burns sustained during the incident.

"There's a possibility of young girls being scared away by what has happened to Agnes (Agnes Tirop) and Rebecca (Rebecca Cheptegei) and they will feel that okay, if I perform on that level, maybe my life is going to be cut short because it now feels like it is something that is contagious why, it's because it hasn't been addressed.

“Nobody understands why Rebecca lost her life, why Agnes lost her life. It feels like a mystery but, it is among us. We understand that people are just lazy, they want to benefit, and if you don't give them your money, then that is the consequence and it's really sad that young girls are watching thinking, I could become a victim if I become an Olympian or if I become a world record holder," she said on Tuesday.

Cheptoo, co-founder of Tirop's Angels, an organization named after murdered athlete Agnes Tirop, spoke to Reuters about the dangers facing successful female athletes in Kenya.

"I don't want.. sadly, even though he (Cheptegei's alleged killer, Dickson Ndiema Marangach) has passed, and I don't think I would ever want to even meet him. For what? He has caused us so much pain. Can you imagine the pain that Rebecca went through? That is somebody I would not like to see but also with him passing today it's not justice.

“It does not give us a feeling of satisfaction or feeling better about the situation. We believe in humanity and for us, him sitting in jail for the rest of his life would have been the best consequence that we would have wanted out of all this."

Cheptegei is the third elite sportswoman killed in Kenya since October 2021, raising concerns about domestic violence in the country's running community.

Nearly 34% of Kenyan women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence, according to 2022 government data.

"A lot of women especially right now in Kenya you could see from the performance at the Olympics, we had the highest scorers as women. You can look at Faith (Faith Kipyegon) doubling, getting two medals, we have Beatrice (Beatrice Chebet) getting two medals from the Olympics, we have Moraa (Mary Moraa) medalling again, then we have steeplechase. So, we can see from the medal list, women were the more scorers and men were not. So that alone should give us a push to make sure that we are protecting these women by all costs," she added.

"As a female athlete, I don't feel we are safe because these cases are not going to end. We have active cases. As Tirop's Angels, we have so many cases of GBV (Gender Based Violence) and if we do not address it, I don't think we are going to be safe. No one is safe out there until we address the root causes of GBV."