World champion swimmer Alexander Dale Oen dies at 26 following cardiac arrest

Oslo, May 2 (ANI): World champion swimmer Alexander Dale Oen passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 26.

Oen, 26, who was one of Norway's top medal hopes for the London Olympics, died during a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The President of Norwegian Swimming Federation, Per Rune Eknes, said in a statement that the 100-meter breaststroke world champion was found collapsed on the floor of his bathroom late Monday. Team doctor Ola Roensen said that he immediately began performing CPR until an ambulance arrived. He was finally pronounced dead at the Flagstaff Medical Center.

"We're all in shock. This is an out-of-the-body experience for the whole team over here. Our thoughts primarily go to his family who have lost Alexander way too early," the New York Daily News quoted Petter Loevberg, Norway Coach, as saying.

The federation said Dale Oen had only a light training session on Monday and played golf that day. But teammates became worried when the swimmer spent an unusually long time in the shower and entered his bathroom when he failed to respond to their knocks on the door.

"Everything was done according to procedure, and we tried everything, so it is immensely sad that we were not able to resuscitate him. It is hard to accept," a grieving and shocked Roensen said.

Dale Oen had won the 100 breaststroke at the worlds in Shanghai last July and took silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (ANI)