David_Torrence © Photo: Getty Images

Olympic athlete David Torrence has died aged 31

David Torrence has passed away aged just 31

TV & Film Editor
August 29, 2017

An Olympic runner was found dead in the swimming pool of an apartment complex in Scottsdale, Arizona on Monday. David Torrence, who ran for the United States Olympic team before joining Peru's team (his mother's home country) for the 2016 Rio games, was found at the bottom of the pool at around 7.30am. According to local police, David had left his home in Malibu, California, in order to train. Ben Hoster of the Scottsdale Police Department said: "Firefighters removed the male subject from the pool and he was pronounced deceased. Detectives learned that there were no obvious signs of foul play."

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David participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics

Friends and colleagues of the runner took to Twitter to pay tribute to him, with one writing: "Today we lost an amazing athlete and an even greater friend… I was going to pick David up at the airport in a few days to come to my house like he does every September. He was going for #3 this year," while another added: "Such tragic news to wake up to. David Torrance looked after my squad when on camp in Berkeley last year. Athletics has lost a diamond!"

READ: Celebrity deaths in 2016: Famous faces gone too soon

Friends and colleagues paid tribute to David 

A third person added: "Didn't know him well, I was eating alone in the B'ham hotel last week and he joined me. Brightened my morning. He was that kind of person." David had last updated his Strava app on Sunday, which showed that he had ran a distance of 7.3 miles. According to the Malibu Times, David set national records for Peru in both the mile run, which he ran in three minutes, 53.21 seconds, and in the 1,500-metre race, which he ran in three minutes, 34.67 seconds.

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