Grant Wahl Died of Aortic Aneurysm at World Cup, His Wife Says

By Aashirwad December, 14

Grant Wahl, the American soccer reporter who collapsed and died while covering the World Cup in Qatar last week...

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...died of an aortic aneurysm that ruptured, his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, said Wednesday.

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Gounder said he died from a “slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium.

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Wahl, a longtime college basketball and soccer reporter, collapsed while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match and was later declared dead

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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

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His body was returned to the US on Monday for the autopsy, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

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The CDC says aortic aneurysms or dissections caused about 10,000 deaths in 2019. About 59% of those deaths were among men.

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An aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the aorta – the large artery that carries blood from the heart to the chest.

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