Canoe coach Henze dies after car crash

Germany's DOSB Olympic federation and its canoeing federation on Monday announced that Stefan Henze had died of his injuries, following a serious road traffic accident early on Friday morning.

"We are deeply saddened. Rest in peace, Stefan. You will always be in our hearts," Germany's canoe slalom team said in a tweet in German on Monday.

DOSB Presdient Alfons Hörmann said that the German team was "immeasurably sad" in light of the development: "Words cannot even nearly describe what we're feeling in the Olympic team after this terrible loss."

A DOSB statement said that Henze died in the presence of his family. "His partner was with him in spirit," it continued.

Henze's family issued a response saying they knew that "Stefan's own Olympic thoughts live on in many people."

Riding in a cab at time of crash

Henze was rushed to a specialist Rio clinic with a renowned neurosurgery department after Friday's car crash, in which he suffered severe head trauma. Henze had been riding in a taxi with another team member, but was the only person in the car to be seriously hurt.

He subsequently underwent emergency surgery. At the family's request, details of his medical treatment were not made public. Shortly after the crash, German Olympic team doctor Dr. Bernd Wolfarth was at pains to praise the rapid response teams in Rio, saying the process would have taken just as long in Germany.

"The German Olympic team will pay its respects to Stefan tomorrow at the memorial site in the Olympic village," the DOSB statement said. "At our request, to mark this, the IOC will fly German flags at half mast at all Olympic venues [on Tuesday]."

White water in the blood

Henze, who hailed from Halle in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, was a canoeist who enjoyed a highly successful career in the two-man C2 class. With longstanding partner Marcus Becker, he won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004, also winning the World and European Championships with Becker. His father Jürgen Henze, meanwhile, was world champion in the 1970s himself, he later helped his son's development.

"From a very young age, I mostly saw my father on the white water rapids," Stefan Henze wrote on a website he ran with his competition partner Becker. "Family and friends, that's the main support that would always drive me on."

Becker went to university for a sports course after his canoeing career, before returning to the German setup as a team coach.

msh/apc (dpa, SID)