Gold medalist plans touching tribute
When world champion Dale Oen died while training in Arizona earlier this year, it hit the swimming world hard. Oen, a 26-year-old from Norway, was one of the favorites in both the 100-meter and 200-meter Olympic events.
Oen was found unconscious in his hotel bathroom in April after suffering what was later discovered to be a heart attack. He was unaware that he had coronary heart disease at such a young age.
Skip ahead to London four months later and take note of Hungary's Daniel Gyurta. The gold medalist, who set a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke, is making a major magnanimous gesture. He told reporters in Hungary he will make a copy of his gold medal and give it to Oen's family.
"We became very good friends this year," Gyurta said. "I'm sure that he would have won the 100 here in London. This is the least I can do to pay respect to my friend."
It's likely Oen would have done the same, if the story was reversed. Oen became a hero in Norway after dedicating his world championship win to the 77 people killed in last year's massacre by Anders Breivik.
Photo by Robert Beck/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
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w.h.o.r.e
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Dale Oen may have had a coronary heart defect and subsequent death by heart attack BUT...
he would NOT have died if he were not in Flagstaff, Arizona...training at 10,000 feet in the thin mountain air in order to force his body to increase red blood cell count and volumn. This is a "legal" form of blood "doping" that is not penalized in competition sports. The obvious advantage is vastly increased stamina. This is the reason the Chinese swimmer's performance at the Games was so stellar. She trained in TIBET just prior to her performance in a British pool in front of cameras. If her sustained speed looked unusual it was because no one with a typical blood cell count is capable of the kind of sustained effort she exhibited.
Point: Oen would be alive today had he not been forced into a training regimen that was PATENTLY HIGH RISK to his health. The fact of medical attendance in his Team aside, his physical response to the over exertion due to TRAINING killed him. He is rotting in his grave rather than enjoying the full bloom of his erstwhile robust youth. His coach should be caned with a steel cable and left on train tracks for the wolves.
His memory merits more than a footnote in sports history approved by next kin too indifferent to press formal charges for millions of bucks to properly fund the worthy memory of their lost son. There is a VERY INTERESTING news story or features film series in THIS HOT TOPIC... about the fatal attraction of sports training beyond the boundaries of safe practice. When is it counter to the spirit of sports to throw away a life in an effort that is nothing less than suicide? Public suicide is abhorred as decadent and sick and unworthy as a spectator sport. Why is this common sports training practice tolerated in professional sports? It must be BANNED as immoral and unethical.
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Are you a medical doctor? Was Dale Oen your patient? If not, you are making rude, very ill-advised comments about a young man's death. If so, you are extremely unprofessional.
