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Posted at 4:12 a.m., Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Olympic canoeing champion Kolonics dies at 36

Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Two-time Olympic canoeing gold medalist Gyorgy Kolonics died after collapsing in his canoe during training. He was 36.

The Hungarian Olympic Committee said Kolonics lost consciousness Tuesday and paramedics were not able to resuscitate him. The committee said the probable cause of death was heart failure.

Kolonics won Olympic gold medals in the 500-meter canoe doubles at the 1996 Atlanta Games and in the 500-meter singles at the 2000 Sydney Games. He also won bronze in Atlanta in the 1,000-meter doubles race, teamed with Csaba Horvath, and in the same event at the 2004 Athens Games with Gyorgy Kozmann.

Kolonics was training with Kozmann for the Beijing Games, which would have been his fifth Olympics.