Athletes Deaths Thread

[Dolby 757]

As someone who started watching basketball during the Shaq-Kobe era, who has been a Laker fan ever since, I am devastated at this tragedy. For me, Kobe is not about the points scored or championships won but about what can be achieved through sheer hard work and perseverance. Apart from being one of the best players of the game, he was also an excellent student of the game. I am sure he would have been an amazing coach in the future as well. 

[Nickyc707 382]

Deaths of Olympians in January

 

 Aleksandr Manechinsky, 61 - Swimming

 Roman Monchenko, 55 - Rowing (1×B)

 Harvey Reti, 82 - Boxing

 Bill Hobbs, 70 - Rowing (1×S)

 Charles Oguk, 55 - Hockey

 Mike Wheeler, 84 - Athletics (1×B)

 Jaime Monzo, 73 - Swimming

 Karl Saitl, 95 - Weightlifting

 Bergljot Sandvik-Johansen, 97 - Gymnastics

 Guido Messina, 89 - Cycling (1×G)

 Maurice Moucheraud, 86 - Cycling (1×G)

 Carlos Giron, 65 - Diving (1×S)

 Sophie Kratzer, 30 - Ice Hockey

 Rhona Wurtele, 97 - Alpine Skiing

 Kazim Ayvaz, 81 - Wrestling (1×G)

 Larry Amar, 47 - Hockey

 Robert Archibald, 39 - Basketball

 Duje Bonacic, 90 - Rowing (1×G)

 Kobe Bryant, 41 -Basketball (2×G)

 Jos Bernard, 95 - Gymnastics

 Mike Dancis, 80 - Basketball

 Blagoja Georgievski, 69 - Basketball (1×S)

 

Kobe Bryant's sad death has been discussed widely in this thread and he is one of three athletes who passed away this month who competed at the Games within the past decade  Robert Archibald (39) competed at the 2012 Olympics, while Sophie Kratzer (30) who sadly died of cancer took part in the 2014 Games.

 

Among the other athletes who died in January perhaps the most notable was Guido Messina of Italy who won a gold medal in cycling's team pursuit in 1952. He was the individual pursuit world champion five times between 1948 and 1956, but unfortunately had retired by the time this event was introduced into the Olympic programme in 1964. 

 

There have been a number of deaths in the past year of champions from the last Games to be held in Tokyo in 1964. The most recent is Kazim Ayvaz of Turkey who won the gold medal in the lightweight division of the Greco-Roman wrestling.

 

 

 

[Olympian1010 8,281]

1 hour ago, Nickyc707 said:

Deaths of Olympians in January

 

 Aleksandr Manechinsky, 61 - Swimming

 Roman Monchenko, 55 - Rowing (1×B)

 Harvey Reti, 82 - Boxing

 Bill Hobbs, 70 - Rowing (1×S)

 Charles Oguk, 55 - Hockey

 Mike Wheeler, 84 - Athletics (1×B)

 Jaime Monzo, 73 - Swimming

 Karl Saitl, 95 - Weightlifting

 Bergljot Sandvik-Johansen, 97 - Gymnastics

 Guido Messina, 89 - Cycling (1×G)

 Maurice Moucheraud, 86 - Cycling (1×G)

 Carlos Giron, 65 - Diving (1×S)

 Sophie Kratzer, 30 - Ice Hockey

 Rhona Wurtele, 97 - Alpine Skiing

 Kazim Ayvaz, 81 - Wrestling (1×G)

 Larry Amar, 47 - Hockey

 Robert Archibald, 39 - Basketball

 Duje Bonacic, 90 - Rowing (1×G)

 Kobe Bryant, 41 -Basketball (2×G)

 Jos Bernard, 95 - Gymnastics

 Mike Dancis, 80 - Basketball

 Blagoja Georgievski, 69 - Basketball (1×S)

 

Kobe Bryant's sad death has been discussed widely in this thread and he is one of three athletes who passed away this month who competed at the Games within the past decade  Robert Archibald (39) competed at the 2012 Olympics, while Sophie Kratzer (30) who sadly died of cancer took part in the 2014 Games.

 

Among the other athletes who died in January perhaps the most notable was Guido Messina of Italy who won a gold medal in cycling's team pursuit in 1952. He was the individual pursuit world champion five times between 1948 and 1956, but unfortunately had retired by the time this event was introduced into the Olympic programme in 1964. 

 

There have been a number of deaths in the past year of champions from the last Games to be held in Tokyo in 1964. The most recent is Kazim Ayvaz of Turkey who won the gold medal in the lightweight division of the Greco-Roman wrestling.

 

 

 

Man, three athletes from the last 5 Olympics, January was a rather shit my month, and I think we can all agree on that.

[andyjgt 2]

Didn't compete in an OG, but set the Soviet record in an event where the USSR regularly won medals.

 

Volodymyr (Vladimir) Inozemtsev, 25 May 1964 - 4 Feb 2020.

[heywoodu 16,430]

Abadi Hadis of Ethiopia, only 22 years old. Placed 15th in the Olympic 10k in 2016 and won bronze at the 2017 cross-country worlds.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/abadi-hadis-dead-ethiopian-long-21435004

 

Apparently he had been sick for several months already  

[hckošice 16,565]

Alexander Skvortsov (65)

1984 Olympic Champion, 1980 Silver medalist

 

[tjunior 11]

Wichmann Tamás (72)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamás_Wichmann

[Monzanator 5,072]

Jan Kowalczyk passed away at the age of 79 today.

 

Still the only Polish Olympic gold medal winner in equestrian.

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Monzanator

[dcro 10,210]

There are some wonderful stories from the 1980 equestrian games. Including, but not limited to, some Bulgarian and Romanian riders getting medals despite scoring 0s for piaffe (meaning, they didn't even bother to try to execute it ).

[LDOG 2,474]

Braian Toledo  javelin thrower (2012, 2016), died today in a motorcycle accident.