Claudia Heill, born in Vienna and at only 22-years-old, won the fourth Austrian Olympic judo medal when she received silver at the Athens Games. Her international success started with a gold medal at the 1998 European Junior Championships, but was interrupted thrice, when she suffered ACL tears in 1997, 1999, and 2005 (both knees). On the senior level she won medals at the European Championships with silver (2001 and 2005) and bronze (2002, 2003, and 2007) and at the Military World Championships (CISM) with gold (2006). Heill also won two World Cups and finished fifth (2001) and seventh (2007) at the World Championships.
After ending her career in 2009 she started coaching and was on the way to finishing her studies in “Training and Sport”. Heill, who held the 4th Dan, worked with the organizing committee for the 2010 European Championships in Vienna and would start to work at the ministry of sport in 2011. She died in the early hours of the 31 March after falling from the sixth floor of her flat. It is unknown whether she committed suicide or died by accident.
Austria