Ilke Wyludda, crowned women’s discus champion at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, has had her right leg amputated after contracting septicemia.

“I had a choice between losing my leg or losing my life, so I chose to live,” the 41-year-old German said.

Born in Leipzig, Wyludda had undergone multiple surgery, mostly on her right knee, before taking the decision to amputate.

“Pain had become a part of me,” Wyludda, who trained as a paramedic after retiring from athletics, explained.

A junior world champion, she set 11 junior world records, Wyludda claimed gold in Atlanta with a throw of 69.66m, beating Natalya Sadova, from Russia, and Elina Zvereva, of Belarus, for the title.

She retired never having won a World Championship at senior level, picking up silver in Tokyo in 1991 and again filling the runners-up spot in Gothenburg in 1995.

She went unbeaten with a run of 41 wins from 1985 to the world championships in 1991 where she lost out to Tsvetanka Khristova, of Bulgaria.