Our condolences to the family and friends of Hungarian canoeist Gyorgy Kolonic, who passed away yesterday. His fans are making tribute videos to Gyorgy and I’m uploading one such video here.
Here’s a report from the AP of his untimely death.
Two-time Olympic canoeing gold medalist Gyorgy Kolonics died Tuesday after collapsing in his canoe during training.The 36-year-old Kolonics lost consciousness and paramedics were not able to resuscitate him, the Hungarian Olympic Committee said, adding that the probable cause of death was heart failure.
“Kolonics was a true legend of Hungarian sports, an athlete at the peak of his career who was in a class by himself,” committee president Pal Schmitt said in a statement.
Kolonics won Olympic gold medals in the 500-meter canoe doubles at the 1996 Atlanta Games and in the 500-meter singles at the 2000 Sydney Games. He also won bronze in Atlanta in the 1,000-meter doubles race, teamed with Csaba Horvath, and in the same event at the 2004 Athens Games with Gyorgy Kozmann.
Kolonics won 15 world championships between 1993-2007, most of them teamed with Horvath.
In May, Kolonics and Kozmann won a silver medal in the 500-meter doubles race at the European Championships in Milan, Italy.
Kolonics was training with Kozmann for next month’s Beijing Games, which would have been his fifth Olympics.
