LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Former U.S. Olympic bobsledder Pavle Jovanovic has died. He was 43.
USA Bobsled/Skeleton mentioned in a launch Saturday that Jovanovic took his personal life Might 3.
A local of Toms River, New Jersey, Jovanovic began within the sport in 1997. A push athlete for driver Todd Hays, he received a bronze medal on the 2004 world championships and completed seventh in each the two- and four-man occasions on the 2006 Winter Olympics after additionally pushing for the late Steven Holcomb.
“The winter sports activities neighborhood has suffered a tragic loss,” mentioned USABS CEO Aron McGuire, a former teammate. “Pavle’s ardour and dedication in the direction of bobsled was seen and felt by his teammates, coaches, opponents, and followers of the game. He … had a long-lasting affect on all those that had the chance to spend time with him.”
Jovanovic’s former teammates remembered him on Fb as information of his dying unfold.
“We misplaced one other good one in sliding sport this previous week,” former U.S. bobsled coach Greg Sand wrote. “If there was ever a bobsledder born to push heavy objects, man it was Pavle. Pavle was positively a one among a form authentic.”
Olympic gold medalist Steve Mesler wrote that Jovanovic was his “private legend,” and “the athlete that set the usual for focus, dedication, meticulousness, and drive” in his life and for the group.
“Pavle was king. He WAS the usual,” Mesler wrote.