French Olympic swimmer competes despite heart operations and arrhythmia. Message to runners with same

Jordan Pothain, elite swimmer, France, superb physique with super low body fat percentage. Interesting to compare swimming physiques with running builds and swimmers “win” overall not only in strength and general athleticism, not to mention the aesthetic factor and the aging factor which both favor swimming over running.

The disadvantage of swimming, is the “boredom factor”: which contributes to many collegiate swimmers and elite swimmers completely stopping the activity once their careers are over. When you stare at the bottom of the pool for 2 to 4 hours a day for many years it can get old.

I know countless hobbyjoggers who have continued running, stayed healthy and even run multiple marathons despite these sorts of heart conditions and being told by doctors to quit. Nothing strange.

Breakfast In Bed wrote:

I know countless hobbyjoggers who have continued running, stayed healthy and even run multiple marathons despite these sorts of heart conditions and being told by doctors to quit. Nothing strange.

You are correct but there are always individuals who listen to doctors and apply everything that is said to them to their detriment.

I want to point out that the athletes that have died aren't here to speak for themselves. I was almost one myself. It's easy to be dismissive about somebody else, but believe me, being in the back of an ambulance when your heart is out of control is not something you want to revisit. For any posters who have a contrary opinion, first let me know if you've gone through it yourself.

runnerdave wrote:

I want to point out that the athletes that have died aren't here to speak for themselves. I was almost one myself. It's easy to be dismissive about somebody else, but believe me, being in the back of an ambulance when your heart is out of control is not something you want to revisit. For any posters who have a contrary opinion, first let me know if you've gone through it yourself.

I agree with this.

Also, we need to be careful using people under the age of 30 as inspiration to overcome a potential deadly condition. 50+ athletes have to be a little more careful with this.

runnerdave wrote:

I want to point out that the athletes that have died aren't here to speak for themselves. I was almost one myself. It's easy to be dismissive about somebody else, but believe me, being in the back of an ambulance when your heart is out of control is not something you want to revisit. For any posters who have a contrary opinion, first let me know if you've gone through it yourself.

Thank you for this information and do you have any recommendations for people who suffer from arrhythmia because there are many?

Ghost1 wrote:

runnerdave wrote:

I want to point out that the athletes that have died aren't here to speak for themselves. I was almost one myself. It's easy to be dismissive about somebody else, but believe me, being in the back of an ambulance when your heart is out of control is not something you want to revisit. For any posters who have a contrary opinion, first let me know if you've gone through it yourself.

Thank you for this information and do you have any recommendations for people who suffer from arrhythmia because there are many?

For these types of atrial arrhythmias, catheter ablation is the procedure typically utilized. The ablation kills the cells responsible for generating the spurious electrical signals that cause the high, generally irregular heartbeats. This is considered minimally invasive, as no one cracks the sternum to access the heart. Instead, a catheter is threaded up through the femoral vein in the groin, and up into the heart. There the electrophysiologist "maps" the hearts electrical activity and directs the ablation to the areas that are causing the problems. In most cases there are many. Additionally, even though only one ablation may be required, there may be more electrical pathways that crop up over time, short circuiting the existing scar tissue that results from the previous ablation. In this case a second, and sometimes a third procedure may be required. I've had two (first in 2018, second in April 2021), from recurrent A-Fib/A-Flutter off and on since age 25. The major issue is that the recurrent arrhythmia can crash the hearts ability to pump adequate amounts of blood, over time and lead to heart failure as one gets older. This particular swimmer isn't listed as having an A/Fib/A-Flutter type of tachycardia and as such would be at much lower risk of heart failure later on in life if it recurred. And strenuous exercise is beneficial, and not at all contraindicated, assuming the the arrhythmia has been successfully ablated.

My cardiologist was a runner and told me not to worry about my arrhythmia and to just carry on. That was many years ago.

It's worth adding that not all arrhythmias are the same and one should get the advice of a doctor who also knows something about long distance running.

Thank you for your response and noting that your handle name is not commensurate with the energy you demonstrated in responding to this simple query.

Many thanks.

You’re absolutely 100% correct.

I would point out that with swimming you are rarely in the pool alone and if an arrhythmia occurs there are usually people nearby who can help you immediately. For runners, especially trail runners, there may be no one around if you have an arrhythmia and you could be many miles and a long time away from help. My point is it is more dangerous to run than to swim with a heart arrhythmia.

Also worth noting that your heart rate is quite lower while swimming as compared to running. When you are swimming your body is horizontal so it’s not as hard to get blood to and from your extremities. Additionally, you have the compression of the water (compared to air) which is helping your blood return to the heart. Exercises place different demands on your heart.