Renowned soccer journalist Grant Wahl died of an aortic aneurysm, his widow announced Wednesday on CBS Mornings.
Wahl died Saturday at age 49 while covering a World Cup quarterfinal match in Qatar between Argentina and the Netherlands.
Wahl’s wife Céline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at New York University, said that the New York City Medical Examiner’s office performed the autopsy.
“It’s just one of those things that had been likely brewing for years,” Gounder said to CBS. “And for whatever reason it happened at this point in time.”
Gounder posted on note on Substack with more details surrounding his death.
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“Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium,” Gounder wrote. “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. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death.”
During the game, according to journalists who were there, Wahl fell back in his seat and medical workers on the scene responded quickly.
He was taken out of Lusail Stadium on a stretcher and transported to Hamad General Hospital in Doha, Qatar’s capital city.
The U.S. Department of State said Wahl’s body and possessions were returned to the United States and they arrived…
