Mexican weightlifting gold winner dead at 36

In this Sept. 18, 2000 file photo, Soraya Jimenez of Mexico, completes a final lift to win the gold medal in the clean and jerk event of the women’s 58 kg weightlifting competition at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Jimenez, the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for her country, died of a heart attack on Thursday, March 28, 2013 in Mexico City. She was 35. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

MEXICO CITY — Weightlifter Soraya Jimenez, who became the first Mexican woman to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games, died of a heart attack on Thursday.

The Mexican Olympic Committee said the 36-year-old Jimenez was at home when she died.

“Soraya was the first Mexican athlete to win a gold medal during the debut of female weightlifting at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000,” the committee said in a statement.

Several Mexican officials expressed their condolences on Twitter,
including President Enrique Pena Nieto and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera.

“I regret the death of Mexican athlete and Olympic medalist Soraya Jimenez. My condolences to her family,” Pena Nieto wrote.