from medblogs web--interesting, eh??? not making any conclusions myself, just an interesting read.
CSI: Medblogs.....Sports Agent Changes the Official Story of Alem Techale's Death
Spinning Alem Techale's Death
I've been waiting for someone involved in the death of Alem Techale to catch on that THE BLOGOSPHERE IS WRITING about the implausible story of Alem's demise...
If you are unfamiliar with this story, see my posts here and here and here.
I've been waiting for the guilty shuffling of feet, the stuttering retreats, and garbled contradictions that begin, inevitably, before the illogical medical backtracking begins.
There is a faint shuffle coming from Nijmegen, Holland. Can you hear it?
Nijmegen is the home of Global Sports Communication -- a sports agency --owned by Jos Hermens. GSC represents Kenenisa Bekele and until two weeks ago represented Bekele's fiance, Alem Techale.
Bekele, by the way, is already a huge long-distance running superstar and many people think he has the stuff to become the greatest of all time. Bekele tells people he believes he will run faster in the future (is he prescient?)...
Gebrselassie, with two Olympic gold medals, four world championship wins and 17 world records, is widely considered the greatest distance runner ever, but the murmurings in the athletics community suggest Bekele may become even greater.
Bekele adds fuel to such talk when he says he can still take another two seconds off his 10,000m record.
This may come into play later...but for now, back to the spin...
Version #1: Death in The Chevy
Here is the first iteration of the story of Techale's death:
Tuesday, 1/4/05:
Alem Techale goes on a "routine training run," with Bekele, in "a forest in a hilly area on the outskirts of Addis Ababa."
Techale collapsed.
Bekele carried Techale to his car, but she died before they could get to a hospital.
Wednesday, 1/5/05:
Techale is buried without an autopsy.
It doesn't take anyone too long, after looking at this story, to ask why Alem Techale was buried the next day without a medical examination and autopsy. The first flimsy excuse was that this is not the way things are in Ethiopia -- autopsies are not well-accepted.
But Alem is attached to one of the biggest stars in track and field. And HIS agent was HER agent: Jos Hermens. Wasn't Jos sophisticated enough or smart enough to call up on the phone and say "Whoa--let's find out what the hell happened -- IT MIGHT BE IMPORTANT?
Maybe not.
The Agent Speaks
But Jos is talking, now, from Nijmegen:
" It is difficult to say if it was heart failure or somethingto do with the brain. The Ethiopian doctors who performed the autopsy could find nothing."
HOLD EVERYTHING!
Did he say AUTOPSY? But she didn't have an autopsy...right? I mean she was buried the next day and every source I have -- besides this quote -- says that she did NOT have an autopsy.
But why would Jos say this?
By the way, Jos Hermens FLEW to Ethiopia for the funeral. He was THERE when Alem Techale was buried, so I don't think he's confused. I don't think he's suffereing from jet lag either. So why did he say that?
And he didn't just SAY THAT as an isolated statement (that we or some reporter might be misconstruing)...no...he also tied it in with two diagnoses: heart failure and "something" to do with the brain.
I have news for you. This is no accidental slip of the tongue. And it does not make sense as the truth.
If the doctors HAD dome an autopsy we certainly would know that there was nothing wrong with the brain (Hermens is trying to implicate a ruptured aneurysm) and we would also know if the heart were structurally normal, thus eliminhating several of the most common reasons for sudden death in athletes.
Jos isn't done, yet. He's also about to revise Bekele's story more as in:
At first we thought Alem had died on the way to hospital, but she actually died in the woods while Kenenisa was running to get his car. She passed away before he could get back to her. He took her to hospital but there was nothing he could do. To have your fiancée die in that way is a terrible thing.
Oh, I see. And does this make a difference? I mean the first story was that he picked her up and put her in his car and she died before they got to the hospital. Now Jos wants us to know that he left her -- collapsed in the dirt -- in the hilly forest and then ran to GET his car?
She "passed away" before he could get back to her.
I see.
Ethiopian Autos?
Can I ask the marathoning community something?
Where exactly do you keep your cars while you are marathoning?
Especially in the hilly outskirts of Addis Ababa? I mean are they always close by? Do they FOLLOW you? Are they CLOSE ENOUGH so that you can run and retrieve them in case someone is DYING?
And what kind of car does Mr. Bekele keep so close to his marathon course in the hilly forests of Ethiopia? A Bradley?
This is spin, CBB readers.
I don't know why Mr. Hermens is spinning junk, but I could make a lot of guesses...can't you?
STAY TUNED.............
Posted by Doctor CBB on January 17, 2005 at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (3)
CSI: MEDBLOGS...THE WORLD LOOKS THE OTHER WAY AS ALEM TECHALE IS BURIED AND FORGOTTEN
Call the Police?
Let's do some role playing. Pretend you are in Anywhere, U.S.A. The following circumstances need your attention:
A twenty two year old man and his 18 year-old fiance go out for a walk / run / car ride / boating jaunt.
Where they go, there are no other people.
When they return, the 18 year old girl is dead, in the front seat of the young man's car. His story is that the young woman just dropped to the ground and died. There are no witnesses. There is no history of disease or illness in the woman.
Multiple Choice?
You are (pick one):
1. The police chief
2. The medical examiner
3. The girls parents
4. The boyfriend
5. Someone who gave the girl a drug that might have killed her
Given each of the above roles, choose what you would most want to see happen next:
1. Police investigation and autopsy to determine the cause of death
2. A quick funeral and burial with NO further investigation, NO autopsy, and NO questions asked.
Scott Peterson Wishes He lived in Ethiopia
Welcome to the case of Alem Techale.
We are ignoring the circumstances of this young woman's death. Why? Because she was running when she died and everyone simply accepts the idea that she must have suffered sudden cardiac death -- even though the likelihood of this event in an eighteen year old female marathoner is vanishingly small.
And MOST importantly, sudden cardiac death is a diagnosis of exclusion.
That means that when everything else has been eliminated as a possible cause AND the autopsy shows no heart abnormality AND we have no further clues -- then and only then can we label the death a sudden cardiac death.
The case of Alem Techale fulfills NONE of these criteria.
It is much more likely that Alem Techale was struck by lightning. Or murdered. Or died because she was taking or using drugs or medication.
And if she DID die from sudden cardiac death then it is important to know if she had any cardiac malformations that her family needs to be aware of --because if it's a genetic condition they might die also!
Alem Techale needs to be exhumed, her final weeks of life need to be retraced, and everyone associated with her medical care and training need to be questioned thoroughly.
What's the matter with everyone? Why isn't the running community HOWLING about this?
Posted by Doctor CBB on January 17, 2005 at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)
CSI MEDBLOGS: YOUNG FEMALE MARATHONERS DON'T DROP DEAD...THE MYSTERY OF ALEM TECHALE'S DEATH
Part II of CSI MEDBLOGS:
DEAD RUN...HOW DID MARATHONER ALEM TECHALE DIE?
Part One is HERE.
All Ye Know On Earth and All Ye Need to Know
The world press is telling us that the elite 18 year-old female Ethiopian marathoner Alem Techale collapsed and died while training with her fiancee Kenenisa Bekele.
What the world press is not telling us -- or maybe what they do not themselves know -- is that 18 year old female marathoners don't drop dead while running. Not ever. So why now? So why Techale?
The Odds? They Don't Exist
For every 1,000,000 female college-age athletes, only one will die suddenly while exercising, every year. One in a million.
To put this into perspective, there are thirteen WNBA teams with approximately ten women on each team. These thirteen teams would have to play for about seven thousand seven hundred years (or until the year 9705) before we might expect to see one player die from sudden cardiac death during exercise.
But the odds are even longer if we consider Alem Teleche's particular niche in the sports world: Female marathon runner, age 18. In the largest, most comprehensive study ever done on sudden death in marathoners*, 18 years of modern marathons were reviewed, and there were four exercise-related sudden deaths. Three of these deaths were MEN and three of the deaths were due to coronary artery disease (= "hardening" of the arteries) which is not relevant in an 18 year female.
Although by such precedent, the odds of Alem Teleche dying from sudden cardiac death while running are ZERO, if forced to calculate the odds from the above data, her risk during any given marathon would be about 1/150,000, which means, if she ran a marathon every day (and never aged), it would be over 4 centuries before you would expect such a rare event to occur.
In my line of work, and in a policeman's line of work, a bizarre, nearly impossible explanation for unexpected death can mean only one thing: There's more to the story.
A Broken Heart?
I know what many of you are asking: was Alem predisposed to sudden cardiac death by a congenital ( = present since birth) cardiac abnormality? The literature indicates that over 50% of exercise-related sudden deaths in athletes are associaterd with such abnormalities (mainly hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and coronary artery variants). And yes, we could then talk endlessly about the value of screening these athletes and testing them... but the presence or not of congenital abnormalities in Alem Techale is irrelevant.
Because?
18 year old female marathoners don't die from any cause. Not that we know of. Not in all the world literature. So how did Alem Techale die? And why did NO ONE demand an autopsy? And why did they bury her IMMEDIATELY? And why isn't anyone anywhere asking...
HOW DID THIS GIRL DIE?
Stay Tuned
*Another study of the entire world literature (that's all the marathons anyone has ever reported on) there were 36 cases of heart attack or sudden death in marathoners, but the mean age affected was 43.8 and 75% of these runners had "hardening" of the arteries --again, a disease Alem Teleche could not have.
Posted by Doctor CBB on January 14, 2005 at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (4)
CSI MEDBLOGS: DEAD RUN: HOW DID MARATHONER ALEM TECHALE DIE?
Because I do not Hope to Turn Again
18 year old Alem Techale was destined for marathon stardom. An elite Ethiopian long distance runner, the young woman had already won the world youth title in the 1500m. Training with the top group of Ethiopian marathoners, Alem was preparing for what everyone believed would be a spectacular career. Last week she went for a training run with her fiancee, 22 year old Kenenisa Bekele, the Olympic gold medal and world record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m.
During that run through the hilly forests outside Addis Ababa, Alem Techale collapsed. According to syndicated reports, Bekele rushed to Techale and scooped her up in a desperate attempt to get her help. It is said that she died in his car.
Within days Alem Techale had been eulogized and buried -- without an autopsy. Some media sources say Alem had a "heart attack." Most simply expressed the grief and sorrow all are stricken with over the loss of such a young, promising life.
Guesswork Not Allowed: How Do Young Athletes Die?
An 18 year old super athlete dies suddenly and unexpectedly, then has a quick funeral and burial. No autopsy is performed ... and the press is asking no questions. Shouldn't we investigare this ? Shouldn't we explain this staggerring loss? Doesn't everyone want to know, as best as possible, what happened, so that perhaps we can prevent it next time?
Is there more to this case, though, than just rounding up the usual suspects? Cardiac dysryhthmia...heart attack...is it just that or is there more?
There may be more. I can tell you this much: There is something wrong with this picture.
In the coming days
CSI MEDBLOGS
explores the death of Alem Techale
&
HERE'S WHAT I AM THINKING:
It is extremely unlikely that an 18 year old super athlete would just fall over dead -- Why did Alem collapse? How did she die?
Alem was treated by a well-known German physician who is famous for using alternative therapies -- Is this important to the diagnosis? Was she on medications or using any treatments?
Sudden death in young athletes was almost epidemic in the cycling community not long ago. It is strongly believed that this phenomenon is due to the use of EPO (erythropoeitin) -- the high-tech equivalent of blood doping -- Could Alem have been using EPO?
East Africans have totally dominated long distance running for years in a way that seems statistically impossible -- Are they genetically suited to be marathoners or is there another explanation?
Are Ethiopian and Kenyan marathoners folksy distance runners, honing their skills in the mountains of Africa -- Or are they actually just another subgroup of "globetrotting superstars" replete with PR and sports agents -- and all the dangers that come with that lifestyle