08 August 2023 , 01:30
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Ex-world skating champion Luz Mery Tristán has been shot dead by her fiancé at her condomonium in Colombia, it has been alleged.
The 60-year-old was found dead on Saturday at her home, according to the Cali Metropolitan Police. It comes after officers responded to reports of an alleged domestic dispute.
Police are said to have gone on to arrest her partner, Andrés Ricci, 58, who was found holding the weapon believed to have been used in the incident. Authorities said that Ricci was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the apprehension, reports the Daily Mail.
Ricci allegedly admitted the killing during a virtual court hearing on Sunday. He is reportedly facing one charge of aggravated femicide and three other counts, including trafficking and illegal possession of a firearm. A search of Tristán's home is believed to have uncovered six weapons thought to belong to Ricci.
She was the former world skating champion (Instagram)It is not known if the couple, who were due to wed in October, were living together. Tristán rose to fame in 1990 when she became the first Colombian to win a gold medal in the 5,000-metre competition at the Inline Speed Skating World Championships in Bello, Colombia.
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She also won the 5,00-metre event and bronze in the relay race at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana. Before that she was part of a team that competed in the 1986 Tour de France. She was known as the "gold wheel pioneer". Winning 19 titles, Tristán is credited with paving the way for future skaters.
Friends and relatives attend her wake (AP)She opened the Luz Mery Sports Center in 2006. It has since produced champions Daniela Mendoza, Rommy Muñoz, Sebastián Garcés and Johana Viveros. Elías del Valle called Tristán "an icon of Colombian skating." He said: "She opened the doors of world skating and told Colombian skaters that it was possible to win gold medals, that it was possible to reach the world skating elite and that Colombia had talent."
Previously Tristán was married to drug lord Joaquín Valencia. The couple had five children together before Valencia was extradited to the USA in 2004. Identified as the successor of the Cali Cartel, Valencia was sentenced to 40 years behind bars and ordered to handover $110 million. He was convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering.