COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Olympic track cyclist Kelly Catlin, who helped the U.S. women's pursuit team win the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, died Friday at her residence on Stanford University's campus in California. She was 23.
"Stanford is deeply saddened to confirm the death of Kelly Catlin, a first-year master’s student in computational and mathematical engineering," the university said in a statement Sunday night.
On Friday, Stanford had alerted the campus that a fellow student was "discovered by a roommate overnight in their on-campus residence."
USA Cycling chief executive Rob DeMartini said in a statement Sunday that "the entire cycling community is mourning this immense loss. We are offering continuous support to Kelly's teammates, coaches and staff. We also encourage all those who knew Kelly to support each other through the grieving."
Catlin's father, Mark Catlin, told cycling magazine VeloNews that his daughter killed herself.
Catlin was born and raised near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and rose to prominence on the track as a member of the U.S. national team. She also raced on the road for the Rally UHC Pro Cycling Team, and she was pursuing a graduate degree in computational mathematics at Stanford.
Last month, she wrote a post for VeloNews in which she expressed how challenging it was to balance her cycling career, her classes and her personal life.
She recalled a time in which her team finished second at the Berlin World Cup, but the euphoria of the feat was quickly squashed when her coach told her she would have to retake a three-hour statistical analysis final.
"Being a graduate student in Computational Mathematics is easy," she wrote. "Being a graduate student, track cyclist, and professional road cyclist can instead feel like I need to time-travel to get everything done."
"The greatest strength you will ever develop is the ability to recognize your own weaknesses, and to learn to ask for help when you need it," she wrote, adding that she had learned taking breaks was also crucial.
"Just as with your muscles, your mind can only repair itself and get stronger with rest," Catlin wrote. "Unlike everything else in life, it cannot possibly do you harm."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
CORRECTION (March 11, 2019, 7:05 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated where Kelly Catlin’s body was found. It was in her Stanford University residence, not her home.