ATLANTA US Olympic cyclist Kelly Catlin died last week at age 23, confirmed USA Cycling, the national cycling team of the United States on Sunday.
The brother of Catlin, Colin, said on Facebook on Friday that his sister took her own life. “She is the only person with whom I have shared most of my life and I will miss her terribly,” she wrote in the post.
Catlin, current member of the national cycling team of the United States, won the silver medal in the pursuit by women’s teams at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Kelly was more than an athlete for us and will always be part of the USA Cycling team’s family,” Rob DeMartini, the team’s executive president, said in a statement. “The entire cycling community is in mourning for this immense loss. We are offering ongoing support to Kelly’s teammates, coaches and team. ”
Catlin was a student and athlete
Catlin was a native of Minnesota, according to the USA Cycling website, and a student at the University of Minnesota.
She was a graduate student at Stanford University and was studying computational mathematics, according to a February article she wrote for the cycling magazine Velo News, where she described her difficulties in combining her academic and athletic career.
“Being a graduate student, track cyclist and professional cyclist can feel like I need to travel in time to do everything. And some things are still lost in the cracks, “he wrote. “It’s like juggling knives, but I’m dropping a lot of them. It’s just that most of them hit the floor and not me. ”
The professional cycling team UHC Cycling Rally wrote on their official Twitter that Catlin’s death “hit the team hard”.
“Losing an amazing person at such an early age is very difficult. Kelly was our friend and teammate. Our deepest condolences go to his family and to those who had the luck to know her better, “the team said.
Retired professional cyclist Michael Sayers said his death was a “monumental loss to the cycling community in the United States.”
CONDOLENCES OF THE COPACI
The Pan-American Cycling Confederation (COPACI) publishes its condolences to family, friends and the Cycling Federation of the United States for the passing of the outstanding runner, Kelly Catlin.
“We were deeply saddened by the death of the young American cyclist Kelly Catlin, one of the most important athletes of track cycling in her country and the world today. To his family, colleagues and the US federation we send him the testimony of our deepest condolences “, expresses the message of the president of the Pan-American Cycling Confederation, José Manuel Peláez. (Press Copaci / (cnnespanol.cnn.com))