Former long jumper Tiedtke speaks about the death of her son

When he didn’t answer the phone and she checked on him, he was lying in bed very calmly and peacefully, the 57-year-old described in an RTL interview. “And then I went over to him and he was already stiff and blue.” Tiedtke said: “It suddenly rips your entire life out of you. It’s your own flesh and blood and then you’re dead. That was so violent.”

Tiedtke about suffering: “I didn’t know where the front and the back were”

The most difficult thing for her was finding a new motivation to live again. “I basically lay on the sofa in a semi-comatose state for over a month and didn’t know where the front and the back were.”

The alternative practitioner said she didn’t work for a year afterwards and lived on her savings. “I slept a lot because I was always trying to connect with him in my sleep,” said Tiedtke. “I have now found my new path and maybe if someone else hears this who is going through something similar, they might feel a little supported or say, I feel the same way, and not feel so alone.”

The long jumper Tiedtke won indoor World Championships silver and bronze and came fifth at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.