‘I had to say my final goodbye’: Wife of late Australian Ninja Warrior star Paul Lyons shares emotional post following his funeral which 2,300 people attended… after the dual Olympian died in his sleep at age 50
The wife of late Australian Ninja Warrior star Paul Lyons shared an emotional post to Instagram on Saturday following his funeral in Melbourne on Friday.
Dani Lyons, who met the two-time Olympian in 2014, thanked the 2,300 people who paid their respects at the Moonee Valley Racing Club.
‘Where to start… yesterday I had to say my final goodbye to my greatest love, Paul Lyons. Thank you to everybody for their long hours, early starts and hard work pulling Paul’s funeral and wake together,’ began Dani.
‘I had to say my final goodbye’: Dani Lyons (right), the wife of late Ninja Warrior star Paul Lyons (left), has shared an emotional post to Instagram following his funeral in Melbourne on Friday
Dani continued: ‘You all know who you are and what you did and I’ll never forget that. To those that financially contributed to cover the funeral costs, I just simply don’t know how to thank you.
‘Giving Paul such an amazing send off was because of your generosity. I didn’t have the opportunity to speak to everyone yesterday but I do know that Pauly would be blown away by the 2300 people that attended.
‘Your love for him was overwhelming and comforting.’
‘Your love for him was comforting’: After 2,300 people attended the Moonee Valley Racing Club to pay respects, Dani thanked people for helping to organize and contributing financially
Heartbreaking: Paul suddenly died in his sleep ‘of a suspected heart attack’ on September 8, according to The Herald Sun
Paul suddenly died in his sleep ‘of a suspected heart attack’ on September 8, according to The Herald Sun.
Reflecting on life since then, Dani wrote: ‘The past few weeks I’ve been in a state of shock, pure grief and non acceptance at the terrible hand we have been dealt. I just wanted to hide from the world and not face my new reality.
‘I forced myself to go to [Paul’s club] Fighting Lyons [on Saturday], finding it so hard to even step through the door knowing Paul is no longer there.
‘Today, I am at the first Taekwondo gradings without Paul leading it and I’m so sad watching it but truly grateful to the staff and the Taekwondo community that have stepped up in his absence.’
Grief: ‘The past few weeks I’ve been in a state of shock, pure grief and non acceptance at the terrible hand we have been dealt,’ said Paul’s wife Dani on Saturday
Dani added: ‘There are many more firsts to come and I’ll probably break down at all of them but please know Fighting Lyons is open for business and the staff and our family will continue with Paul’s dream.’
Paul, a dual Olympian in Taekwondo, represented Australia at the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona and then again in Sydney, 2000, before being awarded the Australia award for services to sport and inducted into the sports hall of fame in 2000.
He was a contestant on season two of Australian Ninja Warrior in 2018.
Athlete: Paul represented Australia at the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona and then again in Sydney in 2000. He also starred on Australian Ninja Warrior in 2018 (pictured)