Medal Award: Popular Athletes Who Committed Suicide

The German footballer, goalkeeper for the national team, suffered from depression, was afraid of losing his job and his family. He was worried about every game, which had a negative effect on his psyche. When he had to leave the Catalan club Barcelona because of scandals and bury his little girl, past joys completely ceased to mean anything to the athlete.

“I tried to explain to him that football is not all of life, there are many other things you can do,” shared widow Teresa Encke. – She said there are no hopeless situations. We wanted to go through all of this together. He must have been too responsible.”

None of the aids worked. Robert committed suicide by throwing himself under a train traveling at a speed of 160 km/h towards the city of Hanover.

The German biathlete was 19 when she committed suicide with a rifle that was probably part of her sports equipment. The reason could be mental issues, eating disorders, sports failures and unfulfilled hopes.

Once, during a competition, a girl was seriously injured in a collision with a tree on a ski slope. She recovered for a long time – both physically and mentally. “As our biathletes battled for medals in Sochi, we received sad news from the junior team regarding the passing of Yulia Piper. The biathlon world mourns the loss of a promising young talent. We extend our condolences to family and all friends of Yulia, ”commented on the death of the athlete on the death of an athlete representing the German Biathlon Union.

In 2013, world sambo champion Ahad Rajabli hanged himself in his own home, using a black belt instead of a rope, which he won in the sports arena. He sent his wife for bread and did not wait for her return.

The athlete was 51 years old. Recently, he engaged in training, but thoughts of past achievements haunted him. The experiments eventually shattered the sambiste’s spirit and he committed suicide.

The winner of the European Cup in 1986 with the Romanian club Steaua, Lucian Balan, committed suicide at the age of 56.

Lucian decided to commit suicide a month after his mother’s death. It was the third suicide attempt. None of the friends, relatives and fellow athletes could fully understand the reason for his act.

Alessio Bisori was one of the managers of the Italian national handball team. A promising 24-year-old player whose career was booming died at the height of his popularity.

The athlete defended the honor of the country in 54 matches. He decided to commit suicide on the way to the European Championship qualifying tournament. Bisori threw himself under the wheels of a train at Bologna central station.

“He wasn’t afraid of anything. I saw it two weeks ago, and Alessio was full of energy and ideas,” former handball coach Giuseppe Tedesco was puzzled by the tragedy.

American skier Jeret Petterson managed to win the US national championship in freestyle skiing and participate in the Vancouver Olympics. He took second place there, losing just over a point to Belarusian Alexei Grishin. After that, Jeret became depressed and started abusing alcohol. He later lost a close friend and took this tragedy hard.

The athlete repeatedly admitted to relatives that he was thinking about suicide. Before killing himself, Petterson dialed 911 and then shot himself in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Jovan Balcher, American football player and National League leader of Kansas City, killed himself after an argument with a girlfriend. First, he shot his girlfriend in front of her mother. Then, arriving at the City Chiefs training ground, he committed suicide in front of the Chiefs general manager and the head of the club.

In the last moments of his life, Jovan managed to thank his colleagues for their sporting success and asked to take care of his two-month-old daughter. Asked to drop the gun, Balcher replied, “I have to kill myself, I can’t stay here.”

Text: Alexandra Belova

Photo: Getty Images, Shutterstock, Legion Media