Athletics: Olympic discus champion Ilke Wyludda is dead

Former world-class discus thrower Ilke Wyludda is dead. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic champion died on Sunday at the age of 55 in Halle/Saale as a result of an illness. Silke Renk, President of the State Sports Association of Saxony-Anhalt and Wyludda’s former training colleague, announced this on Monday, citing the immediate family circle.

“The news is hard and terrible and leaves me stunned. Ilke struggled with health problems early after her career. Every time she grabbed the poop. The entire German throwing community is in mourning. “She was always a fighter, but unfortunately she lost her last fight far too early,” said Renk German press agency.

Born in Leipzig, Wyludda began athletics at a young age and won the discus title and silver in the shot put at the 1985 European Junior Championships. Later, the 1.84 meter tall athlete concentrated only on the disc and from 1989 onwards she was one of the world leaders. She won the European Championship titles in 1990 and 1994, came second in the World Cup in 1991 and 1995 and achieved a really big success in 1996. In Atlanta she secured the Olympic victory. After a long break due to injury, she attempted a comeback, but it was not successful.

After her career, the qualified sports teacher for therapy-rehabilitation and sports for the disabled became a physiotherapist with her own practice, later studied medicine and worked as an anesthetist. After an amputation of her right lower leg in 2010 caused by a bacterial wound infection, she began paralympic sports and competed in the 2012 Paralympics and came fifth in the shot put. She also won silver in the shot put at the 2015 World Cup and silver in the shot put and bronze in the discus at the 2014 European Championships. In 2017 she officially ended her athletic career.