First female Olympic gold medalist from Mexico dies aged 35

Soraya Jimenez of Mexico, completes a final lift to win the gold medal in the clean and jerk event of the women's 58 kg weightlifting competition at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

David Guttenfelder/AP

MEXICO CITY (AP) Soraya Jimenez, the weightlifter who a gold medal in 2000 in Sydney to become Mexico's first female Olympic champion, has died of a heart attack. She was 35.

The Mexican Olympic Committee released a statement Thursday saying it was "in mourning" following Jimenez's death.

After retiring from weightlifting because of various injuries, Jimenez became a sportscaster for the Televisa television network.

In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Maria Espinoza won a gold medal in taekwondo, the only other Mexican woman to win an Olympic gold.