Passages: Toronto Star Journalist Randy Starkman, 51

TORONTO, Canada, April 17. RANDY Starkman, a sports journalist for the Toronto Star, passed away yesterday at the age of 51 according to the Star. Starkman had just returned home from covering Canada's Olympic Trials, including a remarkable feature on Sinead Russell swimming out from under her father's shadows. Upon returning home, he suffered a case of pneumonia and never left St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

Starkman's career spans back to the 1980s and includes some groundbreaking coverage. He first broke news of Ben Johnson's second positive antidoping test in 1993, and he also covered a total of 12 Olympic Games during his time at the Star. He also never let up on the Cecil Russell story, continuing to detail how the Canadian coach had been banned from the sport for life — twice — for being involved in illicit and performance enhancing drug rings. He also reported on how Cecil admitted to disposing of a murder victim's body by burning it in a corn silo at his home.

“He's just one of a kind in our world,” Canada's chef de mission for London Mark Tewksbury told the Star. “There was no bigger advocate for Olympic sports, Olympic athletes than Randy. There's now just a huge void.”

Full text of Toronto Star in-depth obituary.

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