"György Kolonics, Hungary's two-time Olympic gold medallist canoeist, has died on Tuesday at the age of 36. The cause of death was heart failure.Kolonics lost consciousness during training on Tuesday morning and while they tried to resuscitate him on shore, the arriving paramedics could not help him either and were only able to pronounce him dead, said Etele Baráth, President of the Hungarian Kayak and Canoe Association.
Kolonics was training for his fifth Olympic Games to take place between August 8 and 24 in Beijing, China.
The canoeist won four Olympic medals, two gold - in C-2, 500 m in Atlanta in 1996 and in C-1, 500 m in Sydney in 2000 - and two bronze - in C-2, 1,000 m in Atlanta and in C-2, 1,000 m in Athens in 2004.
Kolonics also had outstanding success at the Flatwater Racing World Championships. No other paddler currently in competition can match his record of fifteen World Championship gold medals.
He also won three European titles - C-1 1,000 m (1997), C-1 500 m (2001) and C-2 500 m (2004).
He would have been the partner of György Kozmann in Beijing, with whom he won the bronze medal in Athens four years ago, both on 500 and 1,000 metres."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
16.07.2008