Australian aerial skier Brittany George, whose dream of competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics was cut short by an injury, has been found dead six days after going missing.
The 24-year-old was found in the same neighbourhood in Brisbane where she was reportedly last seen on 21 January.
Ms George represented Australia at major international competitions and was a member of the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia from 2017 to 2020.
She was forced into early retirement from a serious back injury, and recently spoke about her struggle with mental health after losing her identity as an athlete.
"It has literally been my whole life, I’ve been ‘the athlete’ from when I was 2 until when I was 20 or 21," she said on the Couching the Mind podcast in October.
"I did not have an identity. I was labelled ‘the athlete’ from a very young age and just rode with it… everything went second-hand to sport."
Her father, Constantine Gus told The Courier-Mail that she was born with athletic prowess, and the mentality to perfect her craft, but her back injury ended her chance of representing Australia in Beijing.
“Her eyes were full of wonder, knowledge, understanding (beyond her years) and her pure soul was just flowing with love and compassion for everyone,” he told the newspaper.
A GoFundMe page, that has raised almost $10,000 for her family, said Ms George’s determination and courage were exemplified by achieving elite results in gymnastics and freestyle aerial skiing.
“Travelling the world to do this, she met and impacted so many people’s lives in such a positive way that I am sure would last a lifetime,” wrote organizer and friend, Nicole Quinert.
