Uganda holds funeral for Olympian Cheptegei murdered by ex-partner

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00:00Full national honours for a national icon.

00:04Rebecca Cheptege's coffin is draped with the flag of Uganda.

00:08Just weeks ago she ran under this flag at the Paris Olympics.

00:12The marathoner had just returned to her Kenya training base

00:16when her ex-partner doused her in petrol and set her on fire.

00:20Rebecca died days later from her devastating burns.

00:24It is really a sad moment in Uganda, Athletics Uganda.

00:29And all of us friends,

00:33as we went to Paris with Rebecca,

00:38we really felt it.

00:41The 33-year-old is survived by two daughters and a family crushed by grief.

00:49As Uganda and Kenya mourn Rebecca Cheptege,

00:52her murder is bringing up painful memories of the recent killings

00:55of two other elite athletes in Kenya, Agnes Tirup and Damaris Mutua.

01:00They were both killed by intimate partners.

01:03Activists say high-level athletes can be targeted because of their financial success

01:08by men seeking to take control of their money and assets.

01:12Companies like Nike, Adidas, Puma and all those brands

01:16that these young athletes represent when they are juniors to elite level

01:22should have some sort of mechanism on how to protect the girls.

01:26It's really huge. It's a pandemic. It's the whole of Africa.

01:30Government figures show at least a third of girls and women in Kenya

01:34have experienced violence at the hands of domestic partners.

01:37Organisations that help girls and women to escape abusive situations

01:41are demanding action from the government

01:44to stamp out the epidemic of gender-based violence.

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