Maggie Steffens is in mourning after the sudden demise of her sister-in-law, who got here Paris to observe the water polo Olympian compete within the 2024 Summer season Video games.
Steffens, a three-time gold medalist, confirmed the information to the Associated Press on July 28. She stated Lulu Conner, Steffens’ husband Bobby Conner’s youthful sister, died at 26 following a “medical emergency.” Reps for the U.S. girls’s water polo workforce didn’t instantly reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark.
“She was so excited for the Olympic Video games,” Steffens instructed the AP. “We’re actually shut. She’s the sunshine of the world. She simply brings a lot pleasure to everybody. She all the time brings folks collectively.”
Lulu Conner/Instagram
Steffens, who married Bobby in November 2023, instructed the AP that she dropped a bouquet of the flowers into the Seine through the opening ceremony on July 26 to honor Lulu.
“My workforce has been a very large assist system for me,” she instructed the outlet of grappling with the stunning loss. “I’ve been clearly actually struggling, and my husband as effectively, and his whole household. I imply, it’s a nightmare, and it’s fully stunning. However I feel simply feeling her spirit right here is, like I stated, it’s wonderful. And I hope that we are able to make her proud each single day.”
Kaelin Mendez/Getty
The ladies’s coach Adam Krikorian told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was instructed “‘Lulu was filled with vitality, and so excited to be right here and watch this workforce.” They may now “honor her by taking part in with vitality.”
Girls’s water polo preliminary rounds started on Saturday, July 27, with the U.S. beating Greece 15-6. They will subsequent play Spain on July 29.
Through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Steffens instructed PEOPLE that discovering unity together with her teammates all the time helps her via troublesome occasions. “Alone there are a number of issues you’ll be able to’t do, however collectively the inconceivable appears doable. It is all concerning the circle, it is all concerning the workforce and understanding on the finish of the day all of our fingers are in,” she stated on the time.
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