Chinatsu Mori, the holder of Japanese women's shot put record, died at a Tokyo hospital Wednesday morning, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations said.
She was 26 and battling appendix cancer, a rare disease. Mori set a national record of 18.22 meters on April 18, 2004, and represented Japan in the Athens Olympics that same year, becoming the first Japanese woman to compete in the Olympic shot put event in 40 years.
The JAAF and Tokyo High School, Mori's alma mater, had been raising funds to pay for the cost of her treatment after it was revealed that she had cancer in July last year.
The expensive lymphoma cancer treatment, which helps build up the immune system, is not covered under medical insurance.