An Olympic cyclist was found dead in her apartment after reportedly choking on her food.
When former athlete Daniela Larreal Chirinos failed to show up at the hotel where she worked, worried colleagues alerted the authorities.
Police officers responded to her Las Vegas apartment on Friday (August 16) and found her body inside.
She is believed to have been dead since August 11 and her colleagues contacted authorities on August 12.
According to sources close to the investigation, Larreal, 50, died of asphyxiation.
When former athlete Daniela Larreal Chirinos did not show up at the hotel where she worked, worried colleagues alerted the authorities
An autopsy reportedly found solid food remains in her trachea, suggesting she had suffocated to death.
An autopsy reportedly found solid food remains in her trachea, suggesting she had suffocated to death.
However, the cause of death has not yet been officially confirmed by police.
Larreal was one of Venezuela’s most prominent athletes.
She competed in five Olympic Games: Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and London 2012.
She earned four diplomas in track cycling, NeedToKnow reported.
Larreal was the leading figure in Venezuelan cycling between 1990 and 2012.
He won a silver medal at the 1990 Central American Games in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
She won two more silver medals at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
And she won three golds and one silver at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador.
