Injured judoka dies in hospital
A Greek female judo champion who was critically injured after apparently leaping from the balcony of her boyfriend’s third-floor Athens flat six days before the Olympics opening ceremony died in hospital yesterday. Eleni Ioannou, 20, was treated for 18 days at the Erythros Stavros hospital’s intensive-care unit with multiple bone fractures and severe head injuries after the fall, which police are treating as a suicide attempt. The three-time Greek heavyweight champion – who was to have participated in the Olympics – is understood to have had an intense argument with her boyfriend, 24-year-old car mechanic Giorgos Chryssostomidis, before her fall. Two days after Ioannou’s fall, Chryssostomidis cast himself off the same balcony in the Perissos flat he shared with his grandparents, suffering severe injuries. He is still in the Evangelismos hospital’s intensive-care unit with multiple bone fractures. Yesterday, doctors said his health was slowly improving. Ioannou had taken up judo four years ago.
