{{Short description|Austrian judoka (1982–2011)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox judoka | name = Claudia Heill | image = Claudia Heill (2010).jpg | caption = Claudia Heill (2010) | birth_date = {{birth date|1982|1|24|df=yes}} | birth_place = Vienna, Austria | death_date = {{death date and age|2011|3|31|1982|1|24|df=yes}} | death_place = Vienna, Austria | height = 1.76 m <ref name="olympedia" /> <!-- Sport --> | country = Austria | rank = Black | rank_ref = <ref name="olympedia">{{cite web|access-date=2023-03-06|title=Olympedia – Claudia Heill|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/106424}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> | dan = 4 | club = JC Shiai-Do Wr. Neudorf Thermenregion<ref name="derstandard">{{Cite web|title=Steckbrief Claudia Heill|url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/1297821941313/steckbrief-claudia-heill|website=derstandard.at|language=de-AT}}</ref> | team = | coach = Hupo Rohrauer<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2023-05-22|date=2014-08-05|language=de|title=Claudia Heill: Suizid nach Beziehungsdrama?|url=https://www.gmx.at/magazine/sport/mehr-sport/claudia-heill-suizid-beziehungsdrama-12495246}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> | retired = June 2009<ref name="derstandard" /> <!-- Achievements and titles --> | worlds_rank = 5 | worlds_year = 2001 | worlds_weight = Women's 63 kg | regionals_type = EU | regionals_rank = 2 | regionals_year = 2001 | regionals_weight = Women's 63 kg | regionals_year2 = 2005 | regionals_weight2 = Women's 63 kg | nationals = | olympics_rank = 2 | olympics_year = 2004 | olympics_weight = Women's 63 kg | highestranking = <!-- Medal record --> | show-medals = | medaltemplates = {{Medal|Sport| Women's judo }} {{Medal|Country| {{AUT}} }} {{Medal|Competition| Olympic Games }} {{Medal|S| 2004 Athens | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| European Championships }} {{Medal|S| 2001 Paris | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|S| 2005 Rotterdam | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|B| 2002 Maribor | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|B| 2003 Düsseldorf | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|B| 2007 Belgrade | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| World Juniors Championships }} {{Medal|S| 1998 Cali | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|B| 2000 Nabeul | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|Competition| European Junior Championships }} {{Medal|G| 1998 Bucharest | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} {{Medal|S| 2000 Nicosia | {{nbnd}}63 kg }} | updated = 31 May 2023 }}
'''Claudia Heill''' (24 January 1982 – 31 March 2011) was an Austrian judoka best known for winning the silver medal in the half-middleweight ({{nbnd}}63 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics.<ref name="sports-reference">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/claudia-heill-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418103710/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/claudia-heill-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Claudia Heill Olympic Results |accessdate=2011-04-02 |work=sports-reference.com}}</ref>
==Career== In addition to her success at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Heill won silver medals<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-03-31|title=Österreichische Olympia-Zweite nimmt sich das Leben|url=https://www.welt.de/sport/article13027925/Oesterreichische-Olympia-Zweite-nimmt-sich-das-Leben.html|access-date=2022-09-03|website=welt.de|language=de}}</ref> at the European Championships in 2001 and 2005 and bronze medals in 2002, 2003 and 2007. She placed fifth at the 2008 Summer Olympics and retired one year later. After retiring from competition, she began coaching junior judoka.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-03-31|title=Austria judo medallist Claudia Heill falls to her death|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12922233|access-date=2022-09-03|website=bbc.com|language=en}}</ref>
Heill in 1998 aged 16 won the {{nbnd}}63 kg category at the Senior Austrian National Championships.<ref>{{Cite web|title= Claudia Heill|url=https://www.judoinside.com/judoka/498|access-date=2022-09-03|website=judoinside.com|language=en}}</ref> Later that same year Heill won silver at the Junior World Championships (Cali) where she lost to the Japanese Keiko Maeda. Within a month Heill took the gold medal at the Junior European Championships (Bucharest). Heill’s position as a world-class judoka in the {{nbnd}}63 kg category was developing quickly. In 2000, at the Junior World Championships (Nabul) she won bronze and at the Junior European Championships (Nicosia) she won silver. By 2001, Heill began concentrating on her senior career and she took a silver medal in the European Championships (Paris)<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-19|title=Former Olympic Judo Silver Medalist Commits Suicide in Austria|url=https://www.foxnews.com/sports/former-olympic-judo-silver-medalist-commits-suicide-in-austria|access-date=2022-09-03|website=foxnews.com|language=en}}</ref> and placed fifth at the World Championships (Munich).
Heill spent the next seven years competing internationally. She was one of four Austrians (Sabrina Filzmoser, Ludwig Paischer and Andreas Mitterfellner making up the quartet) to take gold medals at the World Military Championships in 2006<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-03-31|title=Sportwelt entsetzt über Selbstmord von Heill|url=https://www.heute.at/s/sportwelt-entsetzt-uber-selbstmord-von-heill-16419634|access-date=2022-09-03|website=heute.at|language=de}}</ref> helping her country top the medal table. Her finest hour was her silver medal-winning performance at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. “This had been her dream even as she began practicing her first judo attacks as a seven-year-old,” said her longtime coach Hubert Rohrauer.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-04-04|title=Judo-Österreich trauert um Claudia HeillJudo-Österreich trauert um Claudia Heill|url=https://www.judoaustria.at/judo-oesterreich-trauert-um-claudia-heilljudo-oesterreich-trauert-um-claudia-heill/|access-date=2022-09-03|website=judoaustria.at|language=de}}</ref>
Heill was part of the organizing committee at the European Championships in Vienna in 2010 and a commentator on JudoTV at the Judo World Cup in Oberwart.
== Death == Heill died in Vienna on 31 March 2011.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2011-03-31|title=Austrian judo medalist Heill, 29, jumps to death|url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/judo/news/story?id=6276192|access-date=2020-06-14|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}</ref> The manner of death was suicide.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Claudia Heill}} * {{Sports links}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Heill, Claudia}} Category:1982 births Category:2011 suicides Category:2011 deaths Category:Suicides by jumping in Austria Category:Austrian female judoka Category:Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic judoka for Austria Category:Olympic silver medalists for Austria Category:Olympic medalists in judo Category:Martial artists from Vienna Category:Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:20th-century Austrian women Category:21st-century Austrian sportswomen