Olympic Judo Silver Medalist Claudia Heill Falls To Her Death
by KJ Gould on Mar 31, 2011 8:30 PM EDT
in Judo
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A tragedy inside and outside the Judo community. Most news outlets are running with the Associated Press release stating suicide such as USA Today, though BBC News have treated it more delicately:
Austrian Olympic judo silver medallist Claudia Heill has died after falling from a sixth-floor window in Vienna.
Her body was found in the early hours of Thursday. Police said no suicide note had been found but there were no signs of suspicious circumstances.
Ms Heill, 29, retired from judo in 2009, five years after winning silver in the women's under-63kg category at the Athens Olympics.
She finished fifth in the Beijing games and had been working as a junior coach.
'Irrational action'Austrian Judo Federation president Hans Paul Kutschera said that everyone who knew her was in shock.
"Claudia was successful in her studies, she was a very active person," he told Austrian TV.
She had been involved in marketing for the European Judo Championships in Vienna in 2010 and had recently been studying at the University of Applied Sciences at Wiener Neustadt, reports said.
Ms Heill's former trainer Hubert Rohrauer was quoted as saying that he could find no explanation for what happened.
"We met up only the evening before," he said. "Nobody could have predicted such an irrational action. She was a perfectionist and strong-willed."
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Accomplished Martial Artist suicide doesn't make sense to me,
Martial arts usually breeds confidence and strength in people.
RIP
"I am very confident this fight can go either way"
My first thought was CTE
Brain damage can make even a strong person suicidal.
In any case, a terrible tragedy.
Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
brain damage in judo?
I’ve trained judo for 9 years and newer, have I gotten a strong blow to the head. Even with the throws that you practice you always prevent your head from hitting the ground. I doubt this was due to brain damage.
I remeber the 2004 olympics, she beat our slovenian judoka Urška Žolnir in the semi-finals. Terrible to hear the news.
by Miha Perhavec on Apr 1, 2011 5:46 AM EDT up reply actions
Depression is an illness
that even “strong” and confident people can be affected by.
Very sad story
though I think it says a lot about me as a person that I was immediately temped upon reading the headline to make an ukemi joke.
Thank you
I thought I was the only douchebag doing that. We should go halfsies on a torture porn movie and some bud light.
You're not the only one
I also thought about “breaking fall”… A very sad event in any case.
what a cutie
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Apr 1, 2011 4:44 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Sad, I just started Judo
Its sad to see a good Judoka go down like that.
What the fuck?
I can’t see this being ruled out so easily as no suspicious circumstance.
People don’t just jump out of buildings. I hope there is more of an investigation than “Well she did not leave a note.”
It's just a world, it's just a life.
people certainly do just jump out of buildings. but i hate that suicide becomes the immediate conclusion.
by POW on Apr 1, 2011 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions
I really hope
This is one of those truly unfortunate, one of the kind, type of accidents. Suicide is one of the most horrible things a person can do, and the thought of her tripping and falling accidentally would bring alot more peace to her friends and family then a suicide would
silver medal generally dont trip when people try to make them trip.
I hope for insurance reasons they don’t rule it a suicide. If she had an insurance policy it won’t pay out unless it’s not a suicide.
I wish peace for her and her family.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Apr 1, 2011 3:32 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
* medalists
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Apr 1, 2011 3:33 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Sad.
At this point it can’t be ruled a suicide. There likely won’t be much physical evidence given the circumstances, but talking to family or people close to her to see if she’d been acting differently or out of character recently is probably what they’re doing now.
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