Hungarian Olympic champion canoeist dies at the age of 36

György Kolonics collapsed this morning during a workout. They were able to get him to shore where he was pronounced dead by paramedics. The cause of death is heart failure

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. He was training for his fifth Olympic games in Beijing.

Greg Pártay is training at the same club and posted this on FB, "Today, while doing his preolympic practice on the Danube Kolonics, the 15 time world champion canoer, began to feel ill. When the coaches took him to the dock his heart stopped. They tried to revive him and even the 37 minutes late ambulance (according to the ambulance service it was only 17 minutes), unfortunately they were not successful so the 36 year old 2 time olympic champion died in his coaches arms. Drugs and sterroids are ruled out, doctors say that his heart just couldnt keep up with his muscles and ambition. He was also to be wed after his last appearence at an international race, the beijing olympics."