Kelly Catlin’s suicide brought athlete mental health to the attention of her parents. Kelly Catlin, a 23-year-old Olympic track cyclist, committed suicide. Catlin won a silver medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio while a doctoral student at Stanford University studying computational and mathematical engineering.
She is also a three-time world team pursuit champion.
Kelly entered the room with three violins, medals from national and international contests,
notebooks from graduate-level mathematics studies, and her Olympic training bike from 2016.
Meet Kelly Catlin’s Parents, Mark Catlin and Carolyn Emory.
Kelly Catlin is the daughter of Mark Catlin and Carolyn Emory.
In the months following Kelly’s death in March 2019, Mark and Carolyn
relocated her items into her childhood bedroom at the family farm outside of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Mark and Carolyn locked the door and stowed their daughter’s possessions.
The room stayed empty for two years while they grieved Kelly’s death and attempted to go on with their lives.
In 2019, Mark and Carolyn unlocked Kelly’s bedroom door and began
arranging Kelly’s bicycle equipment for donation to a nearby Minnesota historical institution.
This initiative began at the same time as the 2021 Olympics, and Kelly’s fellow
Americans on the track cycling team were contending for medals half a world away in Tokyo.
Why Did Kelly Catlin Take Her Own Life?
Kelly Catlin’s father has revealed the reason for her suicide in the hope that
lessons can be learned to prevent similar tragedies.
He produced a document documenting the circumstances leading up to his daughter’s death,
as well as an examination of the elements he believes may have contributed to it.
Mark blames her suicide on a number of factors, including her success-at-all-costs mindset,
overtraining, stress, and physical injuries sustained during a January suicide attempt.
On both occasions, she inhaled deadly gas.
Catlin’s family believes that a traumatic occurrence that was first undiagnosed and
may have occurred during a training ride crash in January 2019 played a big role in her depression.
Also read:
Kelly Catlin’s Parents Recall Painful Childhood Memories
Because of their viewing of the 2016 Olympics, Mark and Carolyn were able to recall incidents from Kelly’s life.
Catlin (right) earned bronze in the Individual Pursuit at the 2018 UCI World Championships.
Kelly’s biggest achievement in cycling occurred that year when she won silver in the Team Pursuit.
The Americans were the reigning world champions and heavy favorites to win gold in Rio.
When the team lost to Great Britain in the final, some of the riders were dissatisfied.
That was not the case with Kelly.
Mark and Carolyn surprised Kelly at the Olympic Games after they had gone to Rio de Janeiro.
She took advantage of every opportunity after the race to display the medal and mingle with supporters.
Whatever the reasons, Mark and Carolyn agree that their daughter
lacked access to sufficient resources to assist her in developing a healthy perspective on her ambition for success.
To relatives and friends, her austere exterior was impenetrable.
