Ski jumper, Thea Kleven, has died at the young age of 17.
The ski jumper Thea Kleven died on December 17. She was one of the jumpers on the "Project 2022" initiative towards the Beijing Olympics.
The Ski Federation writes this in a press release:
- The whole ski jumping family is in mourning after Thea's demise. Our thoughts are with the family in this difficult time. At the same time, it is important for me that we do everything we can to help jumpers on the team with support over their loss of a good team mate. Additional resources have been put in place to help the team in their grief. This has strongly influenced us all, and it has been toughest for all the female ski jumpers on the Norwegian national team. We will never forget Thea. She participated in our "Project-2022" and had a bright future in ski jumping. Thea had all the prerequisites for becoming a ski jumper of international format, and her participation in the World Cup testifies how great faith we had in her. Now I would like your all to respect that her family and her team mates get some peace in a holiday that has become very different for us than we expected, says ski jumping manager, Clas Brede Braaten.
Furthermore, NSF writes:
- There will be no further comments from managers, trainers or athletes in the Norwegian Ski Association, and we ask the medias to respect the family's desire to have peace of mind in this difficult time.