Grant Wahl, the American soccer reporter who collapsed and died while covering the World Cup in Qatar last week, died of an aortic aneurysm that ruptured, his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, said.
“It’s just one of these things that had been likely brewing for years, and for whatever reason it happened at this point in time,” Celine Gounder said on “CBS Mornings.”
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Celine Gounder also said that an autopsy performed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died from “the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium.
“The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him,” she said, adding that there was nothing “nefarious” about his death.
Grant Wahl, a longtime college basketball and soccer reporter for Sports Illustrated, collapsed while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match and was later declared dead. He was 49.
{{/usCountry}}Grant Wahl, a longtime college basketball and soccer reporter for Sports Illustrated, collapsed while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match and was later declared dead. He was 49.
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He had covered soccer for more than two decades, including 11 World Cups — six men’s, five women’s and authored several books on the sport, according to his website.
Grant Wahl's body was returned to the US on Monday for the autopsy, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
“He was so loved by so many people,” his wife said said adding that hearing the outpouring of tributes “is like a warm hug when you really need it.”