The coroner’s report in the tragic death of top junior British swimmer Chloe Waddell has revealed that she died from an undiagnosed heart defect, the Telegraph is reporting.
Waddell’s death at 16 on February 3rd of this year was met by shock within the British Swimming community. She was found unresponsive in her bed the morning after a meet, and it was revealed that she had consumed significant amounts of alcohol the night before. The coroner concluded in summary that the alcohol may have been the trigger for her death, but that an attack seemed almost inevitable with the condition of her heart.
From the coroner’s report:
”Chloe suffered from undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a serious heart condition which can lead to unexpected and sudden death.
”A combination of her natural disease process and alcohol consumption resulted in her having cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest, from which she could not be resuscitated.
”Chloe had no idea she had this heart condition, you would not know and no-one was to know.
”It’s very likely, in my judgment, at some point Chloe was going to have a serious problem.”
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in layman’s terms, where a portion of the heart is thickened, according to Dr. W.J. McKenna.
Waddell was a British Olympic Trials participant in 2012, and was a part of the British Open Water development camp in 2012. She had best times of 9:00 in the 800 meter free, 4:23 in the 400 meter free, and 2:07 in the 200 meter free as just a 15-year old.