The team manager of the top-seeded men’s heavyweight boxer at the Paris Olympics died at the athletes village in Saint-Denis.

Lionel Fatu Elika died on Friday morning local time at the village, the Oceania regional group of Olympic national committees said in a statement on behalf of its Samoan member.

The International Olympic Committee said Fatu Elika died of natural causes. In a statement today, the IOC expressed “its condolences to the entire Samoan NOC, his family and friends.”

Fatu Elika was at the Olympics with a Samoan team that has one boxer who is a strong medal contender, Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali.

“No words can express how I feel but rest in love coach Lionel,” Plodzicki-Faoagali wrote today in an Instagram post about his team leader whom he described as “Grand Master.”

Plodzicki-Faoagali starts his 92-kilogram competition Monday in a round-of-16 bout against a Belgian opponent. The 25-year-old Australia-born boxer is competing at his second Summer Games.

The Samoan Olympic body’s president Pauga Talalelei Pauga said in the Oceania statement: “Lionel was one of Samoa’s top boxing coaches and a great believer in the Olympic ideal.”

The Paris organising committee said it was “deeply saddened to learn of the death of a member of the Samoan delegation. Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and his delegation.”

President Pauga and Secretary General Ms Maureen Tuimalealiifano met with the Samoa delegation this afternoon for a briefing and team prayer to reassure them ahead of competitions over the next two weeks.

The Samoan NOC said it would not issue any further statements and requested that the privacy of Lionel’s family and the athletes were respected “during this difficult time”.

~ 1news