Figure skating champ John Coughlin ‘took his own life’ days after suspension from sport: Family

The family of U.S. Figure Skating champ John Coughlin indicated the troubled athlete died this week by suicide at the age of 33.

According to the New York Post, sister Angela Laune confirmed the death in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“I have no words,” she wrote, describing Coughlin as a “wonderful, strong, amazingly compassionate brother” who “took his own life.”

Though he has twice been the pairs figure skating champion, his career took a recent turn with his suspension from U.S. Figure Skating as well as the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

That ruling came down on Thursday, though it was not immediately clear what the alleged behavior behind the decision included.

A statement from USFS offered “heartfelt and deepest sympathies” to his survivors and said it was “stunned” to learn of Coughlin’s death, as reported by CNN.

The organization signaled it will refrain from making any further comments at this time.

A similar statement came from the International Skating Union, for which Coughlin served as a member of the technical committee and chair of the athletes commission.

His first pairs championship came in 2011 with partner Caitlin Yankowskas. The following year, he achieved the same recognition skating with Caydee Denney.

[Featured image: John Coughlin, AP Photo/Carlo Allegri]