AN ATHLETE has died while competing at the World Games.
Italian Mattia Debertolis died on Tuesday aged 29 – four days after collapsing during an orienteering event in Chengdu, China.
He was found by organisers and was treated in hospital but could not be saved.
His cause of death is unknown but he was taking part in the men’s middle-distance event at the time of his collapse, in temperatures above 30 degrees.
World Games organisers released a statement saying: “Despite receiving immediate expert medical care at one of China’s leading medical institutions, he passed away.”
They added: “[We will] continue to support the family of Debertolis and the orienteering community in every possible way.”
Debertolis was listed as one of 12 DNF athletes in the official results.
International Orienteering Federation (IOF) President Tom Hollowell said he was “not able to adequately describe the unfathomable depth of sadness in this tragic loss of life”.
Debertolis was also a qualified civil engineer and was studying for a PhD at a university in Stockholm, Sweden, where he lived.
He competed in the World Orienteering Championship in Kuopio, Finland, last month and reached the final in the middle distance.
Orienteering is an outdoor sport in which participants have to navigate between unmarked checkpoints using a map.
It combines physical activity with map-reading and problem-solving.
