Paralympics winner: death by euthanasia

This was announced by the mayor of her home town of Diest. The 40-year-old paraathlete suffered from an incurable and extremely painful muscle disease. “She was in control of her life until her last minute,” her personal physician Wim Distelmans told the daily newspaper From Standard. She died, as she had wished, with a glass of champagne in her hand.

Marieke Vervoort was able to celebrate many successes. © AFP / YASUYOSHI CHIBA

In her sporting career, Vervoort celebrated success in various disciplines. At the Paralympics in London 2012, she won gold in the 100 m and bronze in the 200 m as a handcyclist. In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, she won silver in the 400 m and bronze in the 100 m. That year she was voted Sportsman of the Year Belgium in second place behind soccer star Kevin de Bruyne. Since 2000 she has only been able to get around in a wheelchair. In 2006 and 2007 she became world champion in paratriathlon and also won the Ironman in Hawaii. Wish list completed Vervoort attracted international attention in the TV show in 2015 Het Huis (the house) when she declared that she would have euthanasia performed before the end of the year. The media then pounced on the Belgian in Rio 2016. “First the games, then the injection” was written.

She had had the necessary documents for euthanasia since 2008, when her health had deteriorated dramatically. Before she died, she was working through her wish list. In September she went bungee jumping and raced around the Zolder race track in a Lamborghini. Marieke Vervoort wrote two books to encourage those in her fate.

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Paralympics winner: death by euthanasia

Belgian Paralympic champion Marieke Vervoort ended her life through euthanasia on Tuesday.

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