Olympic gold medal diver Mark Lenzi, 43, died Monday in a Greenville, North Carolina, hospital.
Lenzi won the gold medal in the three-meter springboard competition at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and returned from retirement to earn bronze in the same event at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
He was also the first diver to score 100 points for a single dive, according to his alma mater, Indiana University, which announced his death on its website Monday.
No cause of death was announced, but the Free Lance-Star in Fredricksburg, Virginia, where Lenzi once lived, said he had been hospitalized in critical condition with fainting spells and low blood pressure. His mother said he had a heart ailment, according to the report.
His brother, Billy, told the Free Lance-Star on Monday that Lenzi had internal bleeding that doctors couldn't stop.
Lenzi is the last American to win an Olympic gold medal in diving.
“It’s going to be a long time before we have another,” his former coach, Hobie Billingsley, told the Free Lance-Star.
Billingsley said Lenzi was a pressure performer.
“He didn’t show a thing in practice, but when the lights came on, he was unbelievable. The tougher the competition, the better he would dive,” Billingsley is quoted as saying.
Lenzi was diving coach for the men's and women's teams at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2011, according to the Indiana University news release. He had earlier been an assistant coach at Indiana.
Lenzi is survived by his wife, according to his obituary.
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Something known as "his package."
at first I suspected bad meat in the can, poor guy probably had a heart condition for years but was in such good shape it probably went unnoticed for too long
Perhaps it was the constant strain from working out so hard for the meaningless Olympics that forced the heart problem to the surface.
Survived by his 'wife'.
Did u read his obit? The wife was the LAST one shown as a survivor....... Guess the obit was written by parents?
Athletes, no matter how so-called healthy they are, die just like the rest of us.....Whats the point of working out? We all die...so be it.
"Lenzi is the last American to win an Olympic gold medal in diving" – A very unfortunate loss, but, this needs to state that he is the last male diver to win Olympic Gold. Laura Wilkinson won in 2000.
The photo caption indicates the pic was taken in 1991 so NO, that was not the year before he won the gold medal in 1996. Check your math, CNN! Does anyone proof this stuff?
It's sad when anyone this young passes. What a terrible loss for his family and friends.
He was his gold medal in 1992 – 1996! Maybe you should take your time to read the article!
Watching him during Olympic '96 coverage, I couldn't help but remark that he had a sweet upper body. Lovely pecs. Damn shame about his passing.
RIP...too young to go.