Soccer reporter Grant Wahl died from a complications from an undetected heart problem while covering the World Cup in Qatar, his widow has revealed, and not as the result of foul play, as had been suspected by many, including his brother.
Dr. Céline Gounder, Wahl’s wife, told CBS on Wednesday morning that her husband died from an ‘aortic aneurysm that ruptured.’
‘And it’s just one of these things that had been likely brewing for years, and for whatever reason it happened at this point in time,’ said Gounder.
Soccer reporter Grant Wahl died from a complications from an undetected heart problem while covering the World Cup in Qatar, his widow has revealed, and not as the result of foul play, as had been suspected by many, including his brother. Dr. Céline Gounder, Wahl’s wife, told CBS This Morning that her husband died from an ‘aortic aneurysm that ruptured’
Wahl and Gounder attended Princeton University together before marrying in 2001
Wahl, an outspoken critic of the World Cup host, Qatar, was covering Friday’s Netherlands-Argentina quarterfinals match when he collapsed in the press area. He was rushed to the hospital, but declared dead soon thereafter.
Eric Wahl, Grant’s brother, previously claimed on social media that Grant was ‘killed’ for wearing a rainbow ‘pride’ shirt to a game earlier in the tournament in violation of Qatar’s anti-gay laws. He has since acknowledged that his brother did not die from foul play, and has admitted he regrets making that claim.
Speaking to CBS, Gounder attributed her brother-in-law’s misstatements to grief.
There had been speculation that Wahl wasn’t cared for properly my emergency staff on hand at the match in Doha on Friday night. Others echoed ongoing conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine by suggesting Wahl died from the injection.
But speaking to CBS, and writing on Wahl’s Substack page, Gounder has shot down those theories.
‘Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium,’ she wrote in a recent post. ‘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.’
Gounder wasn’t just writing as a grieving widow, but as a medical doctor who previously worked on President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board.
Wahl’s widow, Celine Gounder, is a medical doctor who worked in the Biden Administration
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The brother of Grant Wahl (pictured), the American soccer journalist who died while covering the ongoing World Cup in Qatar, no longer believes his sibling died of foul play
She also spoke about her grief, and the shock of learning that her husband had died.
‘I was wrapping up one of my last work calls of the day on Friday, and I started to see messages from Grant’s friend and colleague, Gabriele Marcotti, another soccer journalist,’ Gounder said Wednesday. ‘I saw messages on Twitter on my texts, on my email.
‘So I got off the call and called Gabriel, and he told me he had seen what had happened at the stadium, that Grant had collapsed, that they had tried to do CPR for some 20 minutes, and then took him off to the hospital’ she continued.
‘And two of his other colleagues were following in a car behind the ambulance.’
As she explained, Gounder phoned the hospital and tried frantically to find out of Wahl still had a pulse, but couldn’t get an answer.
‘I knew that was a sign,’ she said. ‘If he had a pulse when he left the stadium, that would have been a good sign. No one would answer the question. And so to me, that was… I was scared. I was scared.’
Wahl, who had complained of respiratory problems earlier in the week and had been treated for a possible case of bronchitis, fell back in his seat in a section of Lusail Stadium reserved for journalists during extra time of Friday’s game. Adjacent reporters called for assistance and the 49-year-old was rushed to the hospital, but was declared deceased soon after
Gounder had remained largely silent until Tuesday, when she posted a picture of herself with Wahl on Twitter with the caption: ‘I miss you.’
The image showed the laughing couple at a vineyard, where Wahl had a glass of red wine in his hand.
Wahl and Gounder attended Princeton University together before marrying in 2001. And as she revealed Wednesday, it was Gounder who actually proposed to him.
‘Well, I had just gotten into med school,’ she said. ‘I decided I was going to head back west to where my parents lived. It was my state med school. And I felt like if I’m going to ask Grant to follow me, I should be the one proposing.’
Obviously, Wahl said ‘yes.’
Since his passing, Wahl has been the subject of an outpouring of grief from sports fans and colleagues alike, many of whom have credited his love of soccer and kindness to explain his appeal to audiences.
‘I think for him soccer was more than just a sport,’ said Gounder, who admitted that she’s not much of a sports fan. ‘It was this thing that connected people around the world. There’s so much about the culture, the politics of sport, of soccer. To him it was a way of really understanding people and where they were coming from.’
