Spanish Olympian Blanca Fernandez Ochoa found dead

By Alyssa McMurtry

Oviedo, SPAIN (AA) - After days of extensive searches for the missing Spanish Olympian Blanca Fernandez Ochoa, her body was found on Wednesday in the mountains of Madrid, Spanish media reported.

Fernandez Ochoa, a former alpine skier who was the first Spanish woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics, disappeared on Aug. 23.

She had told her daughter that she was going hiking. After no one heard from her for days, she was reported as missing.

Last Sunday, police found her car near the town of Cercedilla, located in the mountains of Madrid, and Spanish police initiated a massive search in the area. In the end, more than 300 professionals and volunteers combed an area of around 2,000 hectares.

On Wednesday, an off-service police officer found a woman’s body in the search area that appeared to have been dead for over a week, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

Shortly after, police sources told Spanish news agency EFE, that the body belonged to Fernandez Ochoa.

Fernandez Ochoa, 56, participated in four Winter Olympics and was the mother of two children.