Olympic bronze medal-winning figure skater Denis Ten has died in Kazakhstan after being stabbed in an incident involving two robbers.
The Kazakh skater, 25, who won Olympic bronze in 2014, lost three liters of blood in the attack and died in hospital on Thursday, despite resuscitation procedures by doctors, TASS reports.
The tragic incident took place in the city of Almaty, when the skater became involved in an argument with two unknown men who had attempted to steal mirrors from his car.
The verbal row quickly escalated into a serious altercation in which the athlete received knife wounds. Passersby found the unconscious skater on the street and called an ambulance, which took Ten to hospital where he passed away after surgery.
The high-profile athlete was the first Kazakh skater to win an Olympic medal, after he finished third at the 2014 winter games in Sochi, losing only to Japanese skating icon Yuzuru Hanyu and Canadian star Patrick Chan.
“Denis Yurevich Ten spotted two unknown men who tried to steal mirrors from his car. In a brawl which took place at the scene Ten was wounded with a knife. The incident is being investigated by police, all members of Almaty’s department of internal affairs are involved in the operation aimed at identifying and detaining the criminals,” Kazakh police stated, as cited by local outlet tengrinews.kz.
Ten also won silver at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championship and took bronze at the same tournament in 2015.