Rene Herms found dead

[croflash]

Sorry, no English source yet:

800 Meter-Läufer René Herms (LG Braunschweig) ist tot. Der 26 Jahre alte Olympiateilnehmer von 2004 wurde am Samstag leblos in seiner Wohnung aufgefunden. Die näheren Umstände zum Tod des Leichtathleten sind bislang allerdings ungeklärt.

Die Leiche von René Herms wurde am Samstagvormittag in dessen Wohnung in Lohmen bei Pirna (Sachsen) aufgefunden. Die Polizeidirektion Oberes Elbtal/Osterzgebirge bestätigte dem Sport-Informations-Dienst (sid) eine entsprechende Meldung der Bild-Zeitung. „Das ist Fakt. Er wurde tot aufgefunden. Mehr kann ich nicht sagen. Die Ermittlungen laufen “, sagte der Polizeiführer Bernd Kopke am Abend auf sid-Anfrage.

http://www.leichtathletik.de/index.php? ... wsID=20484

[Jon]

:shock: Crazy. What a sad and shocking loss.

[KLocke]

Sad indeed. He was always a pleasant young man. The report states that he had the flu and had suffered previous heart muscle related complication.

Though, that's a translation. It also notes that the cause of death is unknown



RIP Rene

[paulthefan]

Very odd indeed, a 26 year old 800m athlete does not die from a flu.

[eldrick]

Very odd indeed, a 26 year old 800m athlete does not die from a flu.

why not ?

20 million died from it in '19

he probably had this :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis

[gabyandersen]

Another kenyan athlete died one month ago

http://www.eastandard.net/sports/Inside ... 279&cid=39

[paulthefan]

There has got to be more to this story.

[eldrick]

why ?

young people can die from seemingly minor illnesses - perhaps even more common in athletes who subject their body to extreme stress

it's a fact of life

get over it

[Jaack]

That's really sad. R.I.P

[trackstar]

Very odd indeed, a 26 year old 800m athlete does not die from a flu.

Depends on the strain. Influenza can be very deadly. Epidemiologists have been predicting another really deadly strain along the lines of the 1918 epidemic will come due any time now.

[Frans Rutten]

why ?

young people can die from seemingly minor illnesses - perhaps even more common in athletes who subject their body to extreme stress

it's a fact of life

get over it

I couldn't recall recent top performances, so I checked the IAAF Biography.

What intrigues me is that his 800m outdoor performances got worse every year since his best year 2004, although being still rather young. There will be sadly no more another year for him.

Although I know nothing about the circumstances under which René Herms was living and training and certainly not under which he died, this fact seems to me not in line with the remote chance that even top athletes can die from seemingly minor illness as a cause of being subjected to great stress.

[eldrick]

the report said he had a previous heart muscle complaint - this may explain deteriorating yearly performances rather than improving ones

the fact he had pre-existing heart damage is a magnet to viruses/bacteria to cause potentially fatal illnesses especially if heart is strained near to the max quite often - myositis, endocarditis, pericarditis, etc - all of them can kill you & even if you get to a specialist in time, there is still a high mortality even with the best modern medicine has to offer

[paulthefan]

..the fact he had pre-existing heart damage is a magnet to viruses/bacteria to cause potentially fatal illnesses especially if heart is strained near to the max quite often - myositis, endocarditis, pericarditis, etc - all of them can kill you & even if you get to a specialist in time, there is still a high mortality even with the best modern medicine has to offer

Can you give us a little more info on how that happens... is it simply that scar tissue provides an enclave for bacteria. More details?

[eldrick]

Can you give us a little more info on how that happens... is it simply that scar tissue provides an enclave for bacteria. More details?

not an aetiologist

but going back to ancient times ( < '40s/fleming ), rheumatic fever was a scourge - descending on heart valves & destroying them - shortened life expectancy as result - still see minor examples today in dental care in

"see your doc for antibiotics prior to extraction"

[Frans Rutten]

René Herms found dead

Website www.leichtathletik.de has the newsstory (23.01.09) that the sudden death of René Herms was caused by a heart muscle infection, triggered by an already for some time existing kind of "common" Herpes infection. No traces were found indicating doping.

Around Christmas 2008 René Herms did take a break from training, being ill (fluenza). He died on Januari 9th, 2009.