fuck an heart attack at only 26. an elite athlete as well. i think maybe that modern training techniques are so good, that they're surpassing what the human body, or heart, to be specific, can cope with. i think roids are doubtful, but you never know.
World champion swimmer dies at 26 after having massive heart attack as he showered at training camp
- Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen dedicated World Championship Gold to the 77 victims of mass murderer Anders Breivik
- He was world 100m breaststroke champion and silver medalist at Beijing Olympics
- Swimmers found his dead when he didn't come out of shower after training in Flagstaff, Arizona
- Tributes pour in from around the world
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Alexander Dale Oen, a world champion swimmer who was one of Norway's top medal hopes for the London Olympics, has died of a heart attack after a practice session in Arizona. He was 26.
Dale Oen, who took an emotional men's 100 metres breaststroke gold medal at last year's world championships in Shanghai, had been attending a training camp in the town of Flagstaff.
A silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he had just finished a 'light' swim at the high-altitude aquatic centre when he collapsed in his bathroom.
Tragic death: Alexander Dale Oen was found collapsed in a bathroom after colleagues noticed he had been longer than usualThe Norwegian Swimming Federation said Dale Oen had only a light training session on Monday and played golf earlier that day.
But teammates became worried when the swimmer spent an unusually long time in the shower and entered his bathroom after he failed to respond to their knocks on the door.
Mourning: Northern Arizona Univesity Wall Aquatic Center, in Flagstaff, where Dale Oen died
World champion: Dale Oen won gold in Shanghai just days after Anders Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway, right. Left, He prepares for the Men's 50m Breaststroke semi final at the same competition
Man of action: Dale Oen competes in the semi final of the men's 100m Breaststroke competition World Championships in Shanghai The federation said 'they found Dale Oen laying partly on the floor, partly on the edge of his bathtub.'
Team doctor Ola Roensen was among the first on the scene and immediately began performing CPR until an ambulance arrived.
'Everything was done according to procedure, and we tried everything, so it is immensely sad that we were not able to resuscitate him,' Roensen said. 'It is hard to accept.'
He was taken to the Flagstaff Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.
'We're all in shock,' Norway Coach Petter Loevberg said. 'This is an out-of-the-body experience for the whole team over here. Our thoughts primarily go to his family who have lost Alexander way too early.'
'He died suddenly, without warning on Monday evening local time while with the swimming team in Flagstaff, USA,' the Olympic Committee and Norwegian Swimming Federation said in a statement.
'My thoughts go first and foremost to his family in Oygarden,' Per Rune Eknes, president of the Norwegian Swimming Federation said in a statement.
'This is the toughest day the sport of swimming in Norway has ever had.'
Hospital spokeswoman Starla Collins confirmed the death, but did not provide further details.
Dale Oen won the 100-metre breaststroke in Shanghai last July and took silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
His triumph in Shanghai came just three days after the massacre in Norway by right-wing extremist Anders Breivik that killed 77 people.
Dale Oen dedicated the win to the victims of that massacre, pointing to the Norwegian flag on his cap after the finish to send a message to his countrymen back home.
'We need to stay united,' he said after the race.
'Everyone back home now is of course paralysed with what happened but it was important for me to symoblise that even though I'm here in China, I'm able to feel the same emotions.'
In his last tweet on Monday, Dale Oen said he was looking forward to going back home: '2 days left of our camp up here in Flagstaff, then it's back to the most beautiful city in Norway... #Bergen.'
Dale Oen was born in Bergen, Norway's second largest city, on May 21, 1985. He was the second son of Mona Lillian Dale and Ingolf Oen.
He started swimming at age 4, and said on his website that the sport 'came very easy and natural for me.'
He is the second high-profile athlete to die from cardiac arrest recently, after Italian football player Piermario Morosini collapsed on the pitch during a Serie B game for Livorno last month.
That incident came just a month after Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba also collapsed during a game, but survived.
'It feels unreal that Alexander Dale Oen is no longer with us,' Norwegian skiing champion Aksel Lund Svindal, the two-time overall world Cup champion, said on Twitter. 'My thoughts go out to his family, friends and his whole team in Flagstaff.'
Keri-Anne Payne, the 10-kilometer open water world champion from Britain, said: 'Such sad news for swimming.'
ALEXANDER DALE OEN: THE LIFE OF A CHAMPION
Man of action: Dale Oen competes in the semi-final of the World Championships in Shanghai
1985: Born May 21, in Oygarden, Norway.
1989: Begins swimming at the age of four and soon joins a local swimming club.
2003: Enjoys first competition success with a silver medal at the European Junior Championships.
2004: Qualifies for the Athens Olympics, finishes 21st overall in the 100-metre breaststroke.
2005: July - International recognition comes with a seventh place in the 100m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships.
December - Becomes first Norwegian to swim the 100m breaststroke in under a minute.
2006: April - Wins bronze in the 100m breaststroke at the FINA Short Course World Championships in Shanghai.
August - Wins 100m breaststroke silver at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest.
2008: March - Posts European record time of 59.76 seconds as he takes 100m breaststroke gold at the European Championships in Eindhoven.
August - Wins Olympic silver in the 100m breaststroke final in Beijing to secure Norway's first ever swimming medal at the Summer Games.
2011: July - Becomes 100m breaststroke world champion, taking gold in a time of 58.71secs at the World Championships in Shanghai.
2012: April 30 - Dies of a suspected cardiac arrest at a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.
