List of athletics competitors who died during their careers
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A number of athletics competitors have died during their careers. Sometimes, the deaths came during competition or practice, while other times deaths occurred due to road accidents or other non-sports-related reasons.
The list does not include athletes who died during World War I or during World War II, when international athletics competitions were largely put on pause.
List
The following is an incomplete list of athletics competitors who died or disappeared during their professional or amateur careers.
Date | Image | Name | Nationality | Age | Events | Cause |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15 Jul 1912 | ![]() | Francisco Lázaro | ![]() | 24 | Marathon | Collapsed during the 1912 Olympic marathon due to dehydration and high body temperature.[1] |
18 Aug 1931 | ![]() | Eric Krenz | ![]() | 25 | Discus throw | Drowning.[2] |
15 Apr 1933 | George Saling | ![]() | 23 | 110 metres hurdles | Car crash.[3] | |
30 Jun 1946 | ![]() | Donato Pavesi | ![]() | 57 | 10 kilometres walk | Died while racewalking during a race held in his honor.[4] |
15 Sep 1950 | Jaakko Jouppila | ![]() | 27 | Shot put | Murder-suicide of his wife.[5] | |
11 Nov 1950 | ![]() | Les McKeand | ![]() | 26 | Triple jump, javelin throw | Car crash.[6] |
26 Aug 1951 | Jakob Jutz | ![]() | 35-36 | Marathon | Suffered heart failure while running the 1951 Swiss Marathon Championships.[7] | |
2 Aug 1960 | Bob Gutowski | ![]() | 25 | Pole vault | Car accident.[8] | |
11 Dec 1962 | ![]() | Jorma Valkama | ![]() | 34 | Long jump | Car crash.[9] |
9 Jan 1968 | ![]() | Kōkichi Tsuburaya | ![]() | 27 | Marathon | Suicide.[10] |
23 Nov 1968 | Aurelio Janet | ![]() | 23 | Javelin throw | Car crash.[11] | |
22 Dec 1969 | Rolf Hoppe | ![]() | 24 | Javelin throw | Car accident.[12] | |
8 Dec 1971 | A. K. M. Miraj Uddin | ![]() | 23 | Pole vault, long jump, 110 metres hurdles | Disappearance after capture by Pakistani army.[13] | |
17 Feb 1973 | Ezra Burnham | ![]() | 25 | 400 metres | Car accident.[14] | |
30 May 1975 | ![]() | Steve Prefontaine | ![]() | 24 | 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, mile | Car accident.[15] |
29 Dec 1976 | ![]() | Ivo Van Damme | ![]() | 24 | 800 metres, 1500 metres | Car accident.[16] |
7 Jun 1977 | ![]() | Jim Buchanan | ![]() | 21 | Long jump | Car accident.[17] |
26 Aug 1977 | ![]() | Tadeusz Zieliński | ![]() | 31 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident.[18] |
Jul 1981 | Dele Udo | ![]() | 24 | 400 metres | Killed by a Nigerian police officer following an argument.[19] | |
27 Sep 1981 | ![]() | Bronisław Malinowski | ![]() | 30 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident.[20] |
12 Nov 1984 | Christopher Brathwaite | ![]() | 36 | 100 metres, 200 metres | Murdered by a sniper.[21] | |
29 May 1990 | Mohamed Shah Alam | ![]() | 27 | 100 metres, 200 metres | Motorcycle accident.[22] | |
23 Aug 1990 | Yutaka Kanai | ![]() | 30 | 10,000 metres | Car crash.[23] | |
Tomoyuki Taniguchi [ja] | ![]() | 29 | Marathon | |||
1 Sep 1992 | Desta Asgedom | ![]() | 20 | 1500 metres, 800 metres | Struck by a pickup truck, ruled a suicide.[24] | |
6 Apr 1993 | ![]() | Miguel Ángel Gómez | ![]() | 24 | 200 metres | Motorcycle accident.[25] |
13 Aug 1994 | Simon Robert Naali | ![]() | 28 | Marathon | Died from hit-and-run injuries.[26] | |
1 Oct 1994 | Oluyemi Kayode | ![]() | 26 | 200 metres | Car crash.[27] | |
29 Jul 1996 | Georgi Dakov | ![]() | 28 | High jump | Car accident.[28] | |
8 Aug 1998 | Walter Merlo | ![]() | 33 | Long-distance running | Fell from the Corno Stella mountain.[29] | |
7 Sep 2000 | Hyginus Anugo | ![]() | 22 | 400 metres | Car crash.[30] | |
31 Mar 2001 | Diego García | ![]() | 39 | Marathon | Sudden cardiac death during a training run.[31] | |
4 Aug 2003 | Pål Arne Fagernes | ![]() | 29 | Javelin throw | Car accident.[32] | |
25 Dec 2004 | Ian Syster | ![]() | 28 | Marathon | Drowning after car accident.[33] | |
14 Aug 2004 | Robert Howard | ![]() | 28 | Triple jump | Murder-suicide of his wife.[34] | |
27 May 2005 | ![]() | Piotr Gładki | ![]() | 33 | Marathon | Car accident.[35] |
5 Jun 2005 | Matic Šušteršič | ![]() | 25 | 60 metres, 100 metres | Car accident along with two other Slovak athletes, Patrik Cvetan (23) and Nejc Lipnik (17).[36] | |
9 Sep 2006 | Émilie Mondor | ![]() | 25 | 5000 metres | Car crash.[37] | |
21 Jan 2007 | Maria Cioncan | ![]() | 29 | 1500 metres | Car accident.[38] | |
3 Nov 2007 | Ryan Shay | ![]() | 28 | Marathon | Collapsed during the U.S. marathon trials for the 2008 Olympics, died due to heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia.[39] | |
16 Jun 2008 | Tom Compernolle | ![]() | 32 | 5000 metres | Car accident.[40] | |
29 Aug 2010 | Dejene Berhanu | ![]() | 29 | 5000 metres | Suicide.[41] | |
11 Sep 2010 | Taavi Peetre | ![]() | 27 | Shot put, discus throw | Boat accident.[42] | |
15 May 2011 | ![]() | Samuel Wanjiru | ![]() | 24 | Marathon | Fall from balcony.[43] |
26 Jun 2012 | Daniel Batman | ![]() | 31 | 200 metres, 400 metres | Car crash.[44] | |
5 Dec 2012 | ![]() | Yves Niaré | ![]() | 35 | Shot put | Car crash.[45] |
19 Jan 2013 | ![]() | Abderrahim Goumri | ![]() | 36 | Marathon | Car crash; died one year into his doping ban.[46] |
10 Jul 2014 | Peter Mutuku | ![]() | 20 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car crash.[47] | |
28 Jul 2014 | Torrin Lawrence | ![]() | 25 | 400 metres | Car crash.[48] | |
Oct 2015 | ![]() | Yuliya Balykina | ![]() | 31 | 100 metres | Murdered by boyfriend.[49] |
28 Aug 2017 | ![]() | David Torrence | ![]() | 31 | 1500 metres, 5000 metres | Drowning.[50] |
8 Aug 2018 | ![]() | Nicholas Bett | ![]() | 28 | 400 metres hurdles | Car accident.[51] |
19 Aug 2019 | Margarita Plavunova | ![]() | 25 | 100 metres hurdles, 400 metres hurdles | Acute heart failure while jogging.[52] | |
7 Jan 2020 | Kennedy Njiru | ![]() | 32-33 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident.[53] | |
26 Feb 2020 | ![]() | Braian Toledo | ![]() | 26 | Javelin throw | Motorcycle crash.[54] |
24 Sep 2020 | Ondřej Hodboď [cs] | ![]() | 19 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Suicide.[55] | |
8 Nov 2020 | Clevonte Lodge-Bean | ![]() | 18 | 400 metres | Car crash.[56] | |
22 May 2021 | Liang Jing | ![]() | 31 | Ultramarathon | Gansu ultramarathon disaster.[57] | |
Huang Guanjun | ![]() | 33-34 | ||||
26 Jun 2021 | ![]() | Abdalelah Haroun | ![]() | 24 | 400 metres | Car accident.[58] |
9 Aug 2021 | ![]() | Cameron Burrell | ![]() | 26 | 100 metres, long jump | Suicide.[59] |
13 Oct 2021 | ![]() | Agnes Tirop | ![]() | 25 | 10,000 metres, cross country | Stabbing.[60] |
Sep 2021 | Jason Carty | ![]() | 51 | 60 metres, 100 metres | Lung cancer.[61] | |
22 Oct 2021 | ![]() | Álex Quiñónez | ![]() | 32 | 200 metres, 100 metres | Murdered outside a shopping centre.[62] |
10 Jan 2022 | ![]() | Deon Lendore | ![]() | 29 | 400 metres | Car crash.[63] |
16 Apr 2022 | Damaris Muthee | ![]() | 28 | 5000 metres, cross country | Murdered.[64] | |
24 Apr 2022 | Kaushalya Madushani | ![]() | 26 | 400 metres hurdles | Suicide.[65] | |
23 Jan 2023 | Edrissa Marong | ![]() | 27 | 800 metres | Unspecified illness.[66] | |
23 Apr 2023 | ![]() | Tori Bowie | ![]() | 32 | 100 metres, long jump | Complications of childbirth.[67] |
23 Apr 2023 | Samuel Kiplimo Kosgei | ![]() | 37 | Marathon | Road accident.[68] | |
11 Feb 2024 | ![]() | Kelvin Kiptum | ![]() | 24 | Marathon | Car accident.[69] |
Former athletics competitors who died during other sporting careers
- Max Houben, who competed in the 1920 Olympic 200 m and died during his bobsleigh career in 1949
- Stone Johnson, who competed in the 1960 Olympic 200 m and died during his American Football League career in 1963
See also
References
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- ^ Donato Pavesi at Olympedia
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- ^ Nannu, Saifuddin Ahmed (27 December 2011). "বিস্মৃতির অতলে মানিকগঞ্জের শহীদ মিরাজ". banglanews24.com (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
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