Eighteen athletes who took part in the 2012 Olympic Games in London have died prematurely.
Reuters
They have died in helicopter crashes, been murdered in the
woods, disappeared without a trace, shot dead, run over, or died by
their own hand. The only connection between the 18 young people who died
all over the world in the last four years is that they all participated
at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Now the French media have begun talking of la malediction olympique
– an Olympic curse – following the death of 33-year-old Sarah Tait, a silver medallist at the 2012 Games who succumbed to cervical cancer. Tait, a mother-of-two, had captained Australia's rowing team at the Beijing Games in 2008.
"Sarah Tait is just the latest in a very long list of top athletes who have died after taking part in the London Olympic Games,"
Gilles Festor said in Le Figaro.
"This Olympic 'curse' has now claimed 18 victims."
those of swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine, both of France, who perished with eight others in a
helicopter crash
whilst filming a reality show, Dropped, in Argentina in 2015. Belarusian sprinter Yuliya Balykina was murdered near Minsk in October 2015, her body covered in plastic. A 28-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
Honduran footballer Arnold Peralta was
shot dead in La Ceiba
in December 2015. His murder was initially blamed on organised crime as
several other top players have been killed in South America.
Investigators now believe the former Rangers midfielder was killed as a
result of personal problems.
However according to statisticians, 18 deaths out of a total of
10,568
athletes who participated at the 2012 Olympics over a four-year period
isn't exceptional – in fact, statistically more deaths might be
expected.
Rob Mastrodomenico, from
Global
Sports Statistics, told the BBC that statistically he would expect 28
of the athletes to have died by now – so claims of a curse should be
taken with a large pinch of salt.
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