Ilke Wyludda: Grief for the Olympic Champion and fighter

Ilke Wyludda: Grief for the Olympic Champion and fighter

The sports world is shaken! Ilke Wyludda, the legendary discus Olympic champion in 1996, died at the age of only 55. The sad news came from Halle an der Saale, where she died on Sunday from the consequences of an illness. Silke Renk, President of the State Sports Association of Saxony-Anhalt and close girlfriend, announced the news and thus leaves a large gap in the German sports community.

Wyludda achieved her greatest triumph at the Olympic Games in Atlanta when she sensationally threw the discus to 69.66 meters-a performance that is still impressive and exceeded the Discus winner of Paris in 2024 by 16 centimeters. However, their sporting career was not only shaped by success. After a serious injury, she tried a comeback, which, however, did not bring the hoped -for international fame. After her active career, the graduate sports teacher of physiotherapy turned and studied medicine to finally work as an anesthetist.

A stroke of fate and a new beginning

But fate had more exams for Wyludda. After an leg surgery, she fell ill with a bacterial infection that led to the amputation of her right leg. Instead of giving up, she fought her way back to competitive sports and competed in the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, where she took fifth place in the shot put. She continued her impressive career with silver at the 2015 World Cup and other medals at the 2014 European Championship before officially ending her sporting career in 2017.

The grief for Ilke Wyludda is great. Silke Renk said: "The news is hard and terrible and makes me stunned. Ilke had to struggle with health problems early after her career. Every time she grabbed her shit. The whole German throwing community mourns. She was always a fighter, but unfortunately lost her last fight much too early."