The death of Tyler Adams, the captain of the U.S. Men’s Soccer Soccer national team, was announced on Twitter by his wife Celine Gounder
U.S. Soccer noted Wahl’s death in a tweet, saying the organization was heartbroken. “Grant’s passion for soccer and commitment to elevating its profile across our sporting landscape played a major role in helping to drive interest in and respect for our beautiful game.”
Tyler Adams, the captain of the US men’s national soccer team, which was knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands in the last 16, sent his “deepest sympathy” to Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and to those who knew him.
He had just celebrated his birthday earlier this week with “a great group of media friends at the World Cup,” according to a post on his official Twitter account, which added: “Very thankful for everyone.”
“My body finally broke down on me,” Wahl wrote. “Lots of work, high stress, and little sleep can make it hard for you to sleep.” The last ten days had been relatively painless, but on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, I could feel my upper chest begin to tense up, as if I had a cold in my chest. He said he was getting antibiotics to help.
“This isn’t my first rodeo. At the time, he said that he had done the men’s side eight times. I have gotten sick to some extent at every tournament and it is just about figuring a way to get your work done.
He further described the incident in a recent newsletter published on December 5, writing that his body had “broke down” after he had little sleep, high stress and a heavy workload. He’d had a cold for 10 days, which “turned into something more severe,” he wrote, adding that he felt better after receiving antibiotics and catching up on sleep.
The FIFA World Cup 2020 Achievement of Grant Wahl, whose Sports Illustrated editor and former footballer, Eric Wahl, said in a statement
Grant had received death threats because he wore a rainbow shirt in support of gay rights and because of his reporting on the state of the world’s oldest sport, according to his brother.
“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.
During the ceremony, Eric Wahl said his brother wrote to Sports Illustrated in elementary school saying, “My name is Grant Wahl and I want to write for your magazine.”
Soccer events like the World Cup, Women’s World Cup and numerous European tournaments were covered by Wahl, who was a long time sports writer for Sports Illustrated. He and the magazine parted ways in 2020 and he branched out on his own. He also regularly appeared on Fox Sports and CBS Sports as a commentator.
The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. He began publishing a newsletter after leaving Sports Illustrated.
James said he had been fond of Grant. James was the subject of a cover story when he was in high school.
The FIFA World Soccer Player of the Year: Grant Radnedge, 37, whose football reporter reported in an international match during the 2010 World Cup
Other current and former US soccer players, including Ali Krieger and Tony Meola, shared their condolences, as did sporting bodies such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.
Its human rights record has been heavily criticized. The Persian Gulf country’s rules prohibiting same-sex relations have been front and center since the tournament began. It is a crime in this country and could lead to jail time. When several European team captains said they would wear special rainbow armbands, FIFA clamped down and threatened the players with yellow cards.
Eric Wahl said his brother received death threats for wearing a rainbow shirt, because he continued to report on things that are important to the country.
But there was so much depth to Grant, as he wasn’t just a reporter who wrote about wins and losses. He was fearless in his pursuit of the truth, and he routinely shone an uncomfortably bright light on the darker side of professional sports highlighting human rights abuses, and speaking up for those voices who had been silenced.
The Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy is in charge of planning the tournament.
Wahl was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN Saturday.
It was towards the end of the match. Suddenly, colleagues up to my left started shouting for medical assistance. Obviously, someone had collapsed. Because the chairs are freestanding, people were able to move the chairs, so it’s possible to create a little bit of space around him,” Radnedge said.
The first time he met me: the shock of his first World Cup encounter with a Brazilian referee, Dr. Grounder, during the penalty shootout
It was 5 a.m and I couldn’t sleep; my mind was replaying the extraordinary drama of Argentina’s penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands, over and over again.
Grant had been tweeting about the match, he’d posted about the improbable stoppage-time Dutch equalizer which took the match into extra time. But then, as more than 80,000 fans were absorbed by the drama on the field, Grant was fighting for his life. As we now know, frantic efforts to revive him were tragically unsuccessful.
If my own personal experience is anything to go by, for many of the journalists covering the World Cup in Qatar, the hours since then have been a surreal and nauseating blur.
I have no recollection of the first time I met Grant. Maybe it was in New York for Klinsmann to be appointed as the US soccer team’s head coach in 2011; then maybe we hadn’t seen each other in a while.
But such is the nature of our business that we have circled each other’s orbits and interacted so often over social media and through our televised interviews that we became friends.
I can vividly recall one occasion where his wife, in front of a global audience, accidentally walked into the room and almost stepped out. He waved her away with ease.
Dr Grounder became one of the public face of the scientific fightback against Covid 19 and was often able to hide his pride of her achievements. Two weeks ago, he gushed about her to me.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/football/grant-wahl-tribute-spt-intl/index.html
The Chosen One: Grant Wakel.Com: Bringing Up the Voice of a Great Player to the Finals of the World Cup
As a writer, he introduced the then high school athlete, James, to the world with a headline that said, “The Chosen One.” NBA great James led the tributes to him, just hours after he had passed. It is sad to lose a great person.
The tributes on Saturday were so fulsome that nobody could be in any doubt about his impact. “I’m not sure people outside of the United States understand Grant’s impact on football there,” tweeted the British football broadcaster Max Rushden, “I certainly didn’t until I read the tributes.”
Just months after the controversial decision to award the current World Cup to a country other than France, he made a campaign promise to rid soccer’s governing body of corruption.
A couple of days later, we both attended the same Thanksgiving Lunch at the Iconic Torch Hotel, and later that night, at 1:30 a.m, he joined us live in our Doha studio. He wanted to appear on the show, but was not allowed to because of his busy schedule.
Ahead of the interview, he described his new freelance business venture, GrantWahl.Com, and shared that he was concerned that he might not break even on the trip. He told us he was setting targets to deliver content to his paying subscribers.
We joked that I had lost my voice on the fifth day of the tournament. Qatar wasn’t his first ‘rodeo,’ but it has been my first World Cup in person, and my body had quickly surrendered to the flight across eight time zones and the punishing schedule.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/football/grant-wahl-tribute-spt-intl/index.html
Gounder: The search for respect from the US and how the Qatari partners worked together to resolve the final fate of Grant Wahl, whose death occurred in 2005
“There’s a search for respect from the US,” he explained, a search for validation from a country which has historically looked down its nose at the growth of the same game with a different name across the pond. He knew that the attitudes were changing and the tide was turning.
We had almost finished the interview when there was a time limit for it. Needing a quick line to wrap it and toss it back to the main studio, I thanked Grant and said it would be interesting to see what happened next.
Ned Price of the US State Department stated that the remains were in the possession of the New York City medical examiner.
“We did receive excellent cooperation from our Qatari partners as soon as we learned of Grant Wahl’s passing,” Price said. “Our ambassador … was in regular contact with senior officials in the Qatari government in an effort to see to it that we were in a position to fulfill the wishes of the family as expeditiously as possible.”
“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,” Gounder said on “CBS Mornings.”
In a longer statement, Gounder said an autopsy performed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died from a “slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium.
“The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. She said that a lot of shocks wouldn’t have saved him.
Aortic Aneurysm in a Conjugate Aorta: A Memorino for a Great Hero and a Hero
He covered more than two decades of soccer and wrote several books on the sport, according to his website.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the aorta – the large artery that carries blood from the heart to the chest. In a rupture, the aneurysm bursts completely, causing bleeding inside the body.
“It’s very hard to screen for this sort of problem,” he said. “This is probably something that had been there for some time but not causing much in the way of symptoms.”
She said she learned something was wrong last week when she began seeing messages from a friend who said Wahl had collapsed and medical personnel attempted CPR for 20 minutes. She asked if the patient had a pulse when she tried to find out more about him.
There are so many aspects to soccer. She said it was a way to understand people and where they came from. “I want people to remember him as this kind, generous person who was really dedicated to social justice.”
Remembering Ben Gounder in Argentina: What happened to Ben in 1998 when Ben was killed by a shock in a collision in the Lusail Stadium
In a statement, Gounder said, “No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing questionable about his death.
The Argentina-Croatia semifinal will have flower memorials, pictures of the three who died, and messages in the media center of Lusail Stadium.
Several hundred people gathered at The Times Center in New York City Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the memory, life and impact of acclaimed sportswriter and soccer journalist Grant Wahl.
“To him soccer was about connection too, it wasn’t about which team kicked the ball in the net more than the other team, it was about the binding powers of this sport, the ability to unify,” Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Jon Wertheim said.
University of South Carolina Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Joel Samuels, who hosted the memorial and was Wahl’s editor at their university newspaper at Princeton, also officiated his wedding ceremony to Gounder, his college girlfriend turned wife.
In the past week, some have called our love epic. Was it an epic love story? Gounder talked about it. “Until this past week I didn’t realize just how much he shared himself with all of you … but it’s your shared love for him and for us that’s keeping me going right now. I am in love with you.