Rebecca Cheptegie, who took part in the Olympic marathon last month, suffered burns to 75 percent of her body after a brutal attack by her boyfriend, police said.

A Ugandan Olympic runner was hospitalized in Kenya after she was set on fire by her partner, police said.

Rebecca Cheptegie, who competed in the Paris Olympics last month, suffered burns to three-quarters of her body when her partner poured gasoline on her and set her on fire, police reported late Monday.

The attack occurred on Sunday afternoon at Cheptegie’s house in western Trans Nzoia County in Kenya. The 33-year-old sportsman is currently in critical condition in a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.

Her Kenyan partner and alleged attacker, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, was also injured in the flames, according to police. He broke into Cheptegie’s house while she was at church.

Cheptegie’s parents, who are reportedly on their way from Uganda to visit her, said their daughter had bought a house and land in the area to take advantage of the training facilities.

Cheptegie, who finished 44th in the women’s marathon at the 2024 Olympic Games, is not the first well-known athlete to make headlines in Kenya as a victim of domestic violence.

In 2021, Kenyan record-breaking runner Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home. Tirop’s estranged husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Rotich, who denies any involvement in the incident, is now charged with murder.

Tirop’s family and other Kenyan athletes founded a foundation to combat gender-based violence in her honour – Tirop’s Angels – which recently opened a centre in the town of Iten in western Kenya.