When Sport Turns Deadly: Athletes that have collapsed on the field

Being an elite athlete comes with great sacrifices. From pushing their body and mental reserves to the limit to the sheer amount of time they spend training, athletes need to dedicate themselves entirely to their sport. Sometimes this dedication has dire consequences.

Injuries are the most common risk that athletes face. According to a study that interviewed 30 professionals of the Brazilian delegation who participated in the Pan American Games of Guadalajara 2011, all the risk factors are related to the athlete's behavior: "over-training, incorrect sports technique, and inadequate nutrition."

Another study published in the specialized journal Sports Medicine Open claims that there are specific risk factors for mental disorders among athletes, like injuries, performance failure, overtraining, and loneliness in individual sports.

However, other health risk needs to be better analyzed for athletes. Even today, sports medicine poorly understands cardiovascular risk factors for those engaging in high-intensity exercise, as documented in a study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Sadly, some of these issues have revealed themselves in the worst possible way –  on the field in front of fans and other players.

The most recent and discussed case is that of Damar Hamlin. The NFL player went into cardiac arrest during a prime-time game. The 24-year-old collapsed after what looked like a routine tackle. A medic was able to revive him on the field.

In 1960, Howard Glenn died after a prime-time game with the American Football League New York Titans. The player's broken neck led him to suffer convulsions after leaving the field and asking for help repeatedly during the entire event. His trainers could not determine if the injury happened that day or during his past game.

Chuck Hughes was a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions. On October 1971, the 28-year-old player collapsed as he headed back to the huddle. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a blood clot had formed in one of his arteries. Doctors pronounced him dead later that day.

Chris Pronger faced a scary incident during the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs. The puck slammed off Pronger's chest. He got up, took two strides, and collapsed. He was unconscious for about 20 seconds. The St. Louis Blues player fully recovered four days later.

MLB umpire John McSherry had a fatal heart attack while calling an Opening Day game in Cincinnati. Moments after signalling the second base umpire to come in and replace him, McSherry stumbled forward and collapsed onto the turf. Despite the efforts to resuscitate him before rushing him to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was 51 years old.

Ray Chapman was a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians between 1912 and 1920. A pitch from New York Yankees Carl May struck him in the head. He could not see the ball covered in dirt, and the umpire stopped the game when he noticed blood coming out of his ear. The Indians won the world series that year and dedicated it to Champman, who died hours after the game from brain damage.

After years of safety regulation changes in Baseball, some accidents can still put the players at serious risk. In 2022, while playing against the Giants, San Diego Padres player Jurickson Profar collapsed following a scary collision with a teammate. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion and recovered fully.

According to ESPN, the collapse and later death of university player Hank Gathers in the middle of a Loyola Marymount game was very dramatic. The young player was treated for a complication of the heart but did not survive. His teammate and friend Bo Kimble shot his first free throw of each game left-handed as a tribute. The Lions had a historic season that year.

Danish player Christian Eriksen collapsed during a 2020 Eurocup game against Finland while waiting to receive a throw-in near the court's sideline. A trainer performed CPR on Eriksen in front of his devastated teammates. Once he was finally stable, the game resumed an hour later per the request of both teams.

Antonio Puerta was a left insider for the Spanish soccer team Sevilla in 2007. The team was having one of its best years when the player collapsed during the first half of a standard league game against Getafe. He later entered a coma and died.

During a 2021 Miami Open match, tennis player Jack Draper collapsed on the court. The 19-year-old decided to continue playing despite appearing distressed and having his heart rate checked earlier in the set.

American swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted underwater while performing solo at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Her coach, Andrea Fuentes, dived in to rescue her from the bottom of the pool and later criticized the slow response of the lifeguard.

Discussions on how much we will push for in the name of sport have become more common. The International Olympic Committee launched a new long-term research project in 2022 to protect athletes' physical and mental health and, hopefully, reduce these events to a thing of the past.