U.S. National Team Wrestler Dies After Suffering Heart Attack Playing Soccer With Friends

Alan Vera, a U.S. national team wrestler, died on Monday after suffering a heart attack earlier this summer while playing soccer with friends, USA Wrestling wrote in a Tuesday statement . He was 33. Vera was in the hospital recovering from the cardiac arrest when he was struck by an infection over the weekend, according to a GoFundMe to support his family. He is survived by his wife, the Olympic wrestler Elena Pirozhkova, and his daughter Alina, who was born earlier in the summer. “Our hearts have been broken,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender in a statement. “The wrestling community mourns the loss of a great champion, whose incredible life impacted so many within USA Wrestling and around the world.” Vera, who was born in Cuba but later became a U.S. citizen, specialized in Greco-Roman-style wrestling and was part of a U.S. team that narrowly missed qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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