Suspended skater Coughlin, 33, takes own life
John Coughlin, a two-time U.S. pairs champion recently suspended from figure skating, has committed suicide, his sister said in a Facebook post. He was 33.
Angela Laune, Coughlin’s sister, said in a Facebook post that her “wonderful, strong, amazingly compassionate brother John Coughlin took his own life. … I have no words.”
The Kansas City Police Department said in an email Saturday that officers responded to a call of a suicide just before 5 p.m. Friday at a house in the Country Lanes Estates neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. They found Coughlin’s body, and Sgt. Jacob Becchina declined to give specifics on the death.
Coughlin received an interim suspension from the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USFS on Thursday for unspecified conduct. He was barred from any activities sanctioned by the skating body or the U.S. Olympic Committee.
USFS said it was “stunned’ by the news and extended “heartfelt and deepest sympathies” to the family. The organization said it would have no further comment “until a later time.”
The International Skating Union also said it was “shocked” and offered “kindest thoughts” in this “time of sorrow.” Coughlin was chair of the ISU athletes commission and a member of a technical committee.”
Coughlin won national pairs championships with two partners. He teamed with Caitlin Yankowskas in 2011 and with Caydee Denney the next year.