'We kept expecting it to come': Witness claims there was no defibrillator around when Grant Wahl died
LUSAIL, QATAR: US soccer journalist Grant Wahl tragically died on Saturday, December 10, after suffering an apparent heart attack while covering the FIFA World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and Netherlands at Lusail’s iconic stadium. The untimely death of the 48-year-old journalist had sent shockwaves through the soccer world and beyond as another journalist who witnessed the sportswriter collapse before his death recounted the chaotic scramble to save him.
Josh Glancy, a special correspondent for The Sunday Times, shared a recounting of the events and revealed there was no defibrillator nearby when Wahl collapsed during the match. "Why wasn't there a defibrillator? That was the question we kept asking each other, as the medics pumped and pumped to no avail," Glancy wrote in a piece for The Times. "At this billion-dollar state-of-the-art stadium, which has a VIP suite so lavish it includes a bedroom, which will host the World Cup final, why was there no defibrillator to hand? Many minutes passed, and we kept expecting it to come. But it never did."
READ MORE
The journalist continued recalling how "a panicked voice rang out from the press box" asking for a medic help for Wahl, who was "clearly suffering some form of attack or seizure" during the match. Glancy said he and others stood by shocked as they watched medics start performing CPR on Wahl. “An even worse sign was that they kept going and going,” he wrote. “Eventually a stretcher came to take Wahl away. His face was covered. We all knew,” he wrote, adding that “just minutes earlier, he’d been tweeting excitedly about the game.”
"On the pitch, the penalty shoot-out concluded. Argentina won. Holland lost. Who cared," Glancy added. "The gloating of the Argentine victors seemed unbearably pathetic. The distress of the defeated Dutch, stricken in the center circle, somehow trivial and banal in the face of a widow about to receive the worst phone call imaginable. The magic spell of football had been broken. The only important thing was that a good man had inexplicably lost his life."
While the cause of Wahl’s death has remained unknown, his brother Eric Wahl stated he believes his death was the result of foul play. “My brother was healthy. He told me he received death threats. I do not believe my brother just died. I believe he was killed. And I just beg for any help," he said in a now-deleted Instagram video, according to the New York Post.
In contrast to Eric’s claims, Wahl himself spoke about feeling sick in the days before his death. Wahl wrote on Monday, December 5, on his website that he had visited a medical clinic while in Qatar. “My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort.”
Dr Céline Gounder, Wahl's wife of 21 years also shared her grief on Twitter and talked about her shock after learning about Wahl’s death. "I am so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl's soccer family & of so many friends who've reached out tonight," Gounder wrote on Twitter. "I'm in complete shock."
