More details continue to unfold surrounding the death of journalist Grant Wahl, who collapsed at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Doha while covering a World Cup Match.
Times correspondent Josh Glancy witnessed Wahl’s collapse during the match between Argentina and Netherlands and recalled the events that led to his death.
“Why wasn’t there a defibrillator? That was the question we kept asking each other, as the medics pumped and pumped to no avail,” Glancy wrote, noting that medics performed COR on Wahl for several minutes. “At this billion-dollar state-of-the-art stadium, which has a VIP suite so lavish it includes a bedroom, which will host the World Cup final, why was there no defibrillator to hand? Many minutes passed, and we kept expecting it to come. But it never did.”
His cause of death remains unknown, although his brother Eric Wahl has said he suspects it was the result of foul play. Grant himself said earlier in the week that he had come down with “a case of bronchitis.”
Glancy mentioned in his piece that, “a panicked voice rang out from the press box” seeking a medic to assist Wahl who was “clearly suffering some form of attack or seizure.”
A journalist with first aid training and two medics rushed to Wahl’s side, Glancy added, while medics “kept pumping.” Wahl was eventually carried out on a stretcher. Just minutes before he was tweeting about the match, Glancy’s piece reads.
“On the pitch, the penalty shoot-out concluded. Argentina won. Holland lost. Who cared,” Glancy wrote. “The gloating of the Argentine victors seemed unbearably pathetic. The distress of the defeated Dutch, stricken in the center circle, somehow trivial and banal in the face of a widow about to receive the worst phone call imaginable. The magic spell of football had been broken. The only important thing was that a good man had inexplicably lost his life.”
On Thursday, Wahl talked about having bronchitis on an episode of Fútbol with Grant Wahl podcast, PEOPLE reported. While he claimed he was “slightly better,” he also admitted he was not at “100 percent” as he prepared to attend the Friday match.
“My body told me, even after the U.S. went out, ‘Dude, you are not sleeping enough,’ and it rebelled on me. So I’ve had a case of bronchitis this week,” he said. “I’ve been to the medical clinic at the media center twice now, including today. I’m feeling better today, I basically canceled everything on this Thursday, that I had, and napped.”
