WASHINGTON (AP) – American athlete Kelly Catlin, who won silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and claimed three-time world chase cycling champion, died last Friday at the age of 23, according to sources on Sunday. US Cycling Federation
“The American cycling community has suffered a devastating loss with the death of Kelly Catlin, member of the national team,” lamented the president of the federation, Rob DeMartini, in a statement released Sunday on social networks.
Born in Minnesota, on November 3, 1995, the athlete took her own life Friday in her home, California, according to local media reports.
In a letter sent to the magazine Velo News, the father of the girl, Mark Catlin, said the family is “suffering incredible pain.”
“Not a minute goes by that I do not think about her and the wonderful life she could have had, and not a second goes by that we do not think we would give our lives in exchange for hers,” said the father.
Catlin, who also studied computer engineering at Stanford University and played the violin, was one of the great figures of track cycling, as evidenced by his three world titles (2016, 2017 and 2018) and his silver in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, also in pursuit cycling.
In an interview recently published by Velo News, the athlete recognized that it was difficult for her to combine all her activities, so it was important to know how to “recognize” the limits of each one and learn to “ask for help when you need it”.
“The truth is that, most of the time, I do not get things to work,” he said, “it’s like juggling with knives, the truth is that I’m falling down a lot, what happens is that most fall to the ground and not about me. “(EFE)
