Ex-Olympian Daniela Larreal Chirinos Found Dead After She Went Missing For Days

Five-time Olympic cyclist Daniela Larreal Chirinos has tragically passed away.

The 50-year-old athlete, who rose to fame in speed cycling at the Summer Games in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), and London (2012), was found dead in her Las Vegas apartment on Friday, August 16.

Authorities were called in after Daniela Larreal Chirinos went missing on August 12, with her colleagues raising concerns.

While the Clark County Coroner’s Office has informed Fox News that the official cause of death for Daniela is still under investigation, Fox Sports reported that police “concluded that the cause of death had been asphyxiation caused by solid food remains found in her trachea.”

Reports indicate she had been dead since August 11. Daniela had been working at a hotel in Las Vegas.

The Venezuela Olympic Committee posted a tribute after learning of the tragic news. "The COV Board of Directors regrets the departure of Daniela Larreal," the committee said, per a translation of the statement. "With an outstanding career in track cycling, he managed to represent us with honor in five Olympic Games, accumulate four Olympic diplomas and triumphs that always filled us with great pride."

According to Fox News, Daniela Larreal Chirinos was one of Venezuela's most accomplished cyclists. Her top performance came during the Team Sprint final at the London Olympics, where she achieved a seventh-place finish.

While Daniela Larreal Chirinos never clinched a medal at the Olympics, she achieved notable victories at regional competitions. In 2002, she secured two gold medals at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, followed by two silver medals at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo the following year.

Beyond her athletic career, Daniela was also engaged in Venezuelan politics. She was a vocal critic of former President Hugo Chávez, alleging that Chávez and his sports minister, Hector Rodriguez, misappropriated funds from Venezuela by sponsoring a non-existent racing driver.

Daniela Larreal Chirinos' death comes two months after 18-year-old Olympic star Jackson James Rice, aka J.J. Rice, tragically died in a freak diving accident just weeks before his big debut at the 2024 Paris Games.

The young athlete was free diving off a boat when he suffered "a suspected shallow water blackout."

“I was blessed with the most amazing brother in the whole world and it pains me to say that he’s passed away ... he was an amazing kitefoiler and he would have made it to the Olympics and come out with a big shiny medal ... he made so many amazing friends all over the world,” his sister, Lily, said, per WDBJ.

This heartbreaking incident came right before he was set to make history at the Olympics.

Majed Abu Maraheel, the first Palestinian athlete to compete in the Olympic Games, died in June at the age of 61 at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, which was attributed to kidney failure, due to the power outages and medical shortages caused by the ongoing Israeli war.

Abu Maraheel made history in 1996 as the flag bearer for Palestine at the Atlanta Olympics, where he competed in the 10km distance race. His groundbreaking performance paved the way for more than 20 Palestinian athletes to represent their country on the Olympic stage since then.

"He was a Palestinian icon, and he will remain as such," his brother told Paltoday TV. "We tried to evacuate him to Egypt, but then the Rafah crossing was closed (by Israel), and his condition kept deteriorating."

This year's Summer Olympics in Paris saw the smallest Ukrainian representation ever, with only 140 athletes competing. This comes in the wake of significant losses suffered by Ukrainian athletes since Russia's invasion in 2022.

Last month, a British press release reported that more than 487 Ukrainian athletes, including both current and former Olympians, were killed due to the conflict. Among the fallen was Anastasiia Ihnatenko, an acrobatic gymnastics coach.