1 year ago
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DOHA, Qatar —
Award-winning sportswriter Grant Wahl, champion known for his enactment with Sports Illustrated and Fox Soccer, died aft collapsing successful the media tribune astatine Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands World Cup game, U.S. Soccer announced. He was 48.
Paramedics treated Wahl for astir 30 minutes aft his illness earlier removing him from the stadium connected a stretcher. He was aboriginal pronounced dormant Saturday greeting astatine a Qatari hospital.
The origin of decease is unknown. In a statement, U.S. Soccer called Wahl’s enactment “insightful and entertaining” and praised his devotion to the sport.
Wahl, who was covering his eighth World Cup, wrote Monday connected his website that helium had visited a aesculapian session portion successful Qatar.
“My assemblage yet broke down connected me. Three weeks of small sleep, precocious accent and tons of enactment tin bash that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a acold implicit the past 10 days turned into thing much terrible connected the nighttime of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could consciousness my precocious thorax instrumentality connected a caller level of unit and discomfort.”
Wahl wrote that helium tested antagonistic for COVID-19 and sought attraction for his symptoms.
“I went into the aesculapian session astatine the main media halfway today, and they said I astir apt person bronchitis. They gave maine a people of antibiotics and immoderate heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a spot amended conscionable a fewer hours later. But still: No bueno,” helium wrote.
Wahl wore a rainbow T-shirt successful enactment of LGBTQ rights to the United States’ World Cup opener against Wales connected Nov. 21 and wrote that information refused him introduction and told him to region the shirt. Gay and lesbian enactment is criminalized successful Qatar, a blimpish Muslim nation.
Wahl wrote helium was detained for 25 minutes astatine Ahmed Bin Ali stadium successful Al Rayyan, past was fto spell by a information commander. Wahl said FIFA apologized to him.
Grant Wahl speaks connected camera earlier a U.S. men’s nationalist squad lucifer against Ecuador successful East Hartford, Conn., successful October 2014.
(Fred Kfoury III / Associated Press)
Wahl was tweeting passim Argentina-Netherlands match, with his last tweet coming aft the Netherlands’ tying extremity adjacent the extremity of the 2nd half. “Just an unthinkable set-piece extremity by the Netherlands,” helium wrote.
Wahl’s journalism vocation began with an internship astatine the Miami Herald successful 1994; 2 years aboriginal helium joined Sports Illustrated, for whom helium covered 7 World Cups and 12 NCAA hoops tournaments. He won 4 mag communicative of the twelvemonth awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn., portion his publication “The Beckham Experiment” — connected David Beckham’s determination to the Galaxy — was a New York Times bestseller.
Before helium began covering shot exclusively, Wahl wrote a Sports Illustrated screen communicative astir LeBron James successful 2002, erstwhile James was a inferior astatine St. Vincent-St. Mary High successful Akron, Ohio.
“He was ever beauteous chill to beryllium around. He spent a batch of clip successful my hometown of Akron,” James said aft the Lakers mislaid to the Philadelphia 76ers successful overtime Friday. “Any clip his sanction would travel up, I’ll ever deliberation backmost to maine arsenic a teen having Grant successful our gathering down astatine St. V’s. It’s a tragic loss. It’s unfortunate to suffer idiosyncratic arsenic large arsenic helium was. I privation his household the best. May helium remainder successful paradise.”
Wahl is survived by his wife, Dr. Céline Gounder, an corruption illness specializer and a subordinate of President Biden’s COVID-19 modulation team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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