A coach for the Russian youth ski team was found dead in his hotel room Wednesday during the junior world Nordic combined championships in Turkey, local media reported.
Sergei Zorin, 43, was found by friends at 6:30 a.m. (0430GMT) local time in the Turkish resort of Erzurum, where the tournament is taking place, the Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Safak reported.
Turkish media widely reported that excessive alcohol was the suspected cause of death.
Hotel manager Ahmet Keles told the Haber-50 news portal that there was alcohol present in the room, while local police were quoted by the Hurriyet daily that there were no signs of violence and the body had not been disturbed.
Zorin’s body will be handed over to the Russian authorities after a post-mortem in Turkey, Hurriyet reported.
Zorin was based in Russia’s mountainous eastern Altai region, where he taught young Olympic hopefuls at a sports academy.
One of Zorin's colleagues in Altai, Olympic reserve academy coach Vladimir Alt, said that Zorin had been in contact Tuesday.
“He contacted me by text message only yesterday. He told me when the competitions would take place. He had two students there,” Zorin’s colleague Vladimir Alt was quoted as saying by local news agency Amitel.
The Nordic combined championship runs to February 26.
