Spain native Ramiro Tossone, 19, has died after being admitted into the intensive care unit at a local hospital in the Spanish city of Malaga last Saturday, Aug. 8. The news surrounding Tossone’s death was shared by his former coach Xavi Casademont on social media. Tossone swam for the Real Club Mediterraneo club team.
Nos falta Ramiro Tossone. Un grande de la natación malagueña y andaluza. Siempre feliz y siempre dispuesto a apoyar a sus compañeros. Te echaremos de menos Ramiro!! D.E.P. Un abrazo a la familia y al R.C.M. pic.twitter.com/JgSDqQIAJ6
— Xavi Casademont (@XaviCasademont) August 12, 2020
“We miss Ramiro Tossone. A great in Malagan and Andalusian swimming. Always happy and always willing to support his colleagues. We will miss you Ramiro!! Rest in peace. A hug to the family and the RCM,” the above tweet reads.
Per local news outlet Diario Sur, the health episode began while Tossone was performing an exercise involving apnea, or breath holding, during last Saturday’s practice. After experiencing what pool personnel described as signs of drowning, he was rescued and transported to the nearest hospital.
He was then taken to the Hospital Regional de Malaga in a critical state, first responders said. Tossone died Wednesday afternoon, according to officials. News of the loss rapidly spread on social media among the swimming community.
The 19-year-old was a 200-meter butterfly specialist and had represented the Andalusian region during the 2016 Spanish national championships by autonomous regions.
Would it be possible to write/agree on a swimswam consensus statement on limits of benefit/transfer/safety on u/w training or ask top coaches their opinion for using it. Eg building/developing up to periods up to 15s with adaquite time for gases exchange to return to normal between bouts. Consideration taken for the placement of the training/duration/intensity.
First off, this is awful. Condolences to his friends and family.
That said, this seems an appropriate forum for this: There seems to be an inherent danger in training since people realized that underwaters are good and breathing is bad. I cannot figure out where the line is in training for it. Obviously, swimming a 100 underwater is dumb. But Eddie Reese and the daily 25s from 5 years ago when he had the entire A final of 100 fly seems safe, but I can still see some risks there…Do you just avoid scolding swimmers for breathing and not reward them for not breathing? Like kind of say “hey don’t hurt yourself here?” My tiny brain just can’t get figure… Read more »
First, give yourself more credit. Recognizing the inherent dangers and being concerned on how to do it safely is the first step. So you’re far from tiny brained!
Unfortunately, there is no true “line” with hypoxic training. That being said, there are plenty of things a coach can do to mitigate risk. It’s important for all participating coaches to learn what level of hypoxic is appropriate for the athlete skill level. Then, they must make sure the athletes fully understand how to participate safely (no hyperventilating, learn symptoms of hypoxia, etc). There must be enough coaches on deck to watch every kid constantly. And finally, the coach MUST be at their MOST vigilante during a hypoxic set. This ensures… Read more »
Well that makes a ton of sense. Thanks!
As a former teammate, and one of my best friends, I can tell you all that he’s the best guy you could have around. He spread happiness and love everywhere he went. I remember when I left Spain to go to college he was even more excited than me that I was going to be a student-athlete. We will all miss you Rami.
Rest In Paradise brother🤙🏼💙
Devastating news for his family and friends. My prayers go out to them.
Buddy of mine did a 100 LCM underwater and pushed off to go more and after another 10 meters he passed out and we dove in to pull him up…this was in the 70’s and it was macho to go 100 LCM underwater…yup..we were young and dumb!
About 3-4 years ago, a collegiate swimmer died doing a 100M underwater. I think the school was Dartmoth?
Very sad news. Shallow water blackout? It’s actually shocking how little awareness the swimming community has about the dangers of this exercise. My swimmer son nearly drown just because his school coach had no clue.
I thought it was banned (here in AUS anyway)….so sad.
The amount of coaches in Aus that still do lots of breathe holding stuff and yell at swimmers when they breathe is still incredible though. I got in trouble this afternoon for breathing… I’ve pulled a teammate out after passing out previously so when I really need a breath I take one even when it pisses my new coach off