Cycling world champion Kelly Catlin commits suicide aged 23, as her triplet sister reveals she 'had not been the same' since suffering a concussion three months ago - and tried to take her life in January
- Catlin helped the US women's pursuit team win silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics
- She was also part of US pursuit squads that won world titles in 2016, 2016, 2018
- Catlin was found dead by her roommate at their Stanford apartment on Thursday
- Had been pursuing graduate degree in engineering at the prestigious university
- Recently wrote about how juggling studies with cycling was 'balancing knives'
- Catlin wrote that she had only 'just begun' to learn the ability to recognize her 'own weaknesses' and to 'ask for help when you need it'
Catlin's family confirmed that she took her own life.
The
track cyclist, who was part of the US team pursuit squads that captured
world championship titles in 2016, 2017, and 2018, had recently
suffered a concussion.
Her sister Christine said that Catlin 'had not been the same mentally ever since' and had attempted suicide in January.
US cyclist Kelly Catlin, shown at the 2018 World Championships, has died at age 23. Her family confirmed she took her own life
'[She] was a really special person - kind, funny, empathetic, and talented at literally everything she did,' Christine told The Washington Post.
'She just felt like she couldn't say no to everything that was asked of her and this was her only escape.'
'She had suffered a concussion a few months ago and had not been the same mentally ever since.'
Catlin's father said his daughter committed suicide on Thursday night.
Catlin helped the US women's pursuit team win the silver medal at the 2016 Rio games
'There isn't a minute that goes by that we don't think of her and think of the wonderful life she could have lived,' Mark told VeloNews.
'There isn't a second in which we wouldn't freely give our lives in exchange for hers. The hurt is unbelievable.'
Catlin's
roommate found her dead at their on-campus residence at Stanford
University in Palo Alto, California. There were no signs of foul play.
The
star athlete had been working on a graduate degree in Computational and
Mathematical Engineering at Stanford. She had graduated from the
University of Minnesota last year with undergraduate degrees in
Biomedical Engineering and Chinese.
Catlin
was the youngest in a set of triplets that included Christine and
brother Colin, who posted about her death on his Facebook page.
Catlin's brother Colin confirmed in a Facebook post that the cyclist had taken her own life
Catlin was the youngest in a fraternal set of triplets that included her brother Colin.
'My
sister Kelly committed suicide last night,' he wrote. 'She's the one
person I had shared almost my entire life with, and I shall miss her
terribly.'
Christine revealed that
Catlin had tried to commit suicide in January following a number of bad
crashes in which she broke her arm and was left with a concussion.
'She
couldn't train as well as she used to,' Christine told SFGate.com. 'She
had really bad headaches and was sensitive to light. Then she tried to
commit suicide.'
'She had written this
lengthy email and said her thoughts were racing all the time. She was
suicidal, her thinking was really dark and she had taken to nihilism.'
'We called police the moment we got the email, and they got there in time to save her that time.'
Catlin said the family focused on her recovery and they believed she was improving.
'Just
a week or two ago, we were making plans and I was optimistic about her
future,' Colin said. 'She did have plans for the future, it turned out.
Her plans.'
'The thing that haunts me
is that she called me about a week and a half before and we talked for
like 2.5 hours and she opened up to me about her whole life,' Caitlin
added.
Just before she went to the Rio
games, Catlin revealed in a 2016 profile that she initially found track
cycling to be 'terrifying'.
'It's fast and scary,' she told the Pioneer Press. 'It's a lot more about suffering, I guess, because the physical strength of it is a very large component.'
'It's about going as fast and as hard as you can without falling over, basically.'
USA Cycling president Rob DeMartini announced news of Catlin's death on Sunday.
'The
US cycling community suffered a devastating loss with the passing of
Kelly Catlin,' he said in a statement. 'Kelly was more than an athlete
to us and she will always be part of the USA Cycling family.'
Catlin's roommate found her dead in
their on-campus residence at Stanford University. There were no signs
of foul play.
Catlin was part of the US team
pursuit squads that captured world titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
'The
entire cycling community is mourning this immense loss. We are deeply
saddened by Kelly's passing, and we will all miss her dearly.'
Catlin,
who also took bronze in individual pursuit at the 2017 and 2018 world
championships, was also mourned by her professional team Rally UHC
Cycling.
'The news of Kelly's passing
has hit the team hard,' Rally UHC Cycling wrote in a Twitter posting.
'Losing an incredible person at such a young age is very difficult.
'Kelly
was our friend and teammate. Our heartfelt condolences go out to her
family and those who were fortunate enough to know her best.'
Less than two weeks before her death, Catlin posted an op-ed on VeloNews about her struggles with juggling life as a graduate student, competitive track cyclist, and professional road cyclist.
She
wrote of the moment she had just finished second at the Berlin World
Cup in May and how things were 'finally looking up' in the 'run-in to
the 2020 Olympics'.
The star athlete had been
working on a graduate degree in Computational and Mathematical
Engineering at Stanford at the time of her death.
Less than two weeks before her
death, Catlin posted an op-ed about her struggles with juggling life as a
graduate student, competitive track cyclist, and professional road
cyclist.
Doug Schmidt said that the
article written by his 'gifted' cousin was 'painful' to read. 'It seems
everything piled up and she felt there was no way out,' he wrote on
Facebook
But when Catlin stepped
off the podium, the US National Team coach told her she would need to
retake a three-hour final exam for one of her classes at Stanford.
'This is probably the point when you'll expect me to say something cliche like, "Time management is everything,"' Catlin wrote.
'But
the truth is that most of the time, I don't make everything work. It's
like juggling with knives, but I really am dropping a lot of them. It's
just that most of them hit the floor and not me.'
Catlin
wrote that she had only 'just begun' to learn the ability to recognize
her 'own weaknesses' and to 'ask for help when you need it'.
'I
still fail,' she wrote. 'As athletes, we are all socially programmed to
be stoic with our pain, to bear our burdens and not complain, even when
such stoicism reaches the point of stupidity and those burdens begin to
damage us.'
'These are hard habits to break.'
Catlin
had withdrawn from Team USA for the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World
Championships in Poland, which took place just last week.
Catlin was also a talented
violinist, and revealed in a 2016 profile that she had memorized all 35
pages of Tchaikovsk's Violin Concerto in D Major in her spare time
'It
seems everything piled up and she felt there was no way out,' he wrote
on Facebook. 'This gifted athlete's struggle will fade because she was
not a football or baseball player in the US and we do not really pay
attention to cycling.'
'Too often the
athletes in lesser known sports have to juggle multiple careers if they
want to pursue their passion, often to the detriment of their own body
and minds.'
'RIP Kelly, may your final climb up the mountain be a good one.'
Catlin grew up in St Paul, Minnesota. She only picked up cycling at age 17 but quickly rose to prominence in the sport.
She was also a talented violinist,
and revealed in a 2016 profile that she had memorized all 35 pages
of Tchaikovsk's Violin Concerto in D Major in her spare time.
'Everything
she did, she was the best at when we were little kids,' Christine said.
'Sports, violin, and she casually picked up cycling. We were the
Catlins, so we were this force.'
'I
could always see the three of us taking over the world,' Colin added.
'We were a massive ball of energy, and we supported each other in
everything.'
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