ELENI IOANNOU, the Greek judo player who, 17 days ago, jumped off a third-floor balcony after a row with her boyfriend hours before she was due to go into the athletes’ village, died in hospital yesterday.
Ioannou, 20, suffered multiple injuries after falling from the apartment of Michalis Chrisostomidis, her boyfriend. Two days later, Chrisostomidis, a 24-year-old kick boxer, jumped off the same balcony. He is still in hospital, but is out of intensive care.
Relatives of Ioannou had said that the three-time Greek champion had been under pressure for days before the start of the Games.
Police have never suspected any foul play, saying that it was a tragic case of a double suicide attempt. “It was clear from the start these were suicide attempts and there was no indication of any criminal actions,” a police official said. “Unfortunately, a sad story ended today.”
Ioannou, a student at the Athens Gymnastics Academy, was a promising Olympian in a sport that only recently gained popularity in Greece. With only four years of experience, she had won three national championships and a bronze medal in 2002 in the Balkan Championships.
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Friends and relatives said that the couple’s argument on August 7 was minor and that they were shocked at its tragic consequences. “It was a small fight, something silly,” Paul Michaelides, Chrisostomidis’s cousin and downstairs neighbour, said. “It started about who would play solitaire on the computer.”
Police questioned Chrisostomidis and released him, but he remained inconsolable. “He was depressed. He was very upset,” Evangelia Michaelides, Chrisostomidis’s great aunt and neighbour, said.
Two days after Ioannou’s leap, as Chrisostomidis was having lunch with his grandmother, he suddenly stood and bolted for the balcony. “He was sitting there eating, and he just got up and jumped,” Evangelia Michaelides said. “His grandparents were there, but they couldn’t stop him.”