Grant Wahl.Photo: Brendan Moran/FIFA/Getty
Loved ones remembered beloved sports journalistGrant Wahlduring an event at the Times Center in New York on Wednesday afternoon.
Wahl, a celebrated writer, died at age 49 of an aortic aneurysm while covering theWorld Cupin Qatar on Dec. 10.
During the ceremony, Wahl’s wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, recalled how the two metwhile studying at Princetonin the 1990s.
“Grant and I were really just kids when we met at Princeton,” Gounder said, according toABC News. “I was 18. He was 21. In many ways, we finished growing up together.”
She continued: “He hadn’t traveled the world, yet. In fact, he’d only been out of the country twice at that point, both times to Argentina. But as much as I made fun of his provincial palette back in those days, there was something worldly about him, this curiosity he had about the world.”
She and Wahl married in2001.
Grant Wahl and Céline Gounder.celine gounder/twitter
“In the past week, some have called our love epic. Was it an epic love story?” Gounder said, according toCNN. “Until this past week I didn’t realize just how much he shared himself with all of you … but it’s your shared love for him and for us that’s keeping me going right now. I love you.”
Wahl’s brother, Eric, recalled how, even at a young age, he knew he wanted to write about sports.
“Grant really did write toSports Illustratedin late elementary school to say: `My name is Grant Wahl and I want to write for your magazine,'” Eric said. “And he really did get a response that said something like: Dear Grant. Thanks for your letter. That’s cute. Keep writing.' But the fact that he received a reply stuck with him.”
“The room felt completely filled with love — love for Grant, love for each other,” she said. “I wish he had been there to see it.”
Wahl was covering Argentina versus Netherlands game at the FIFA World Cup on Dec. 10 when he reportedly collapsed during the match.
In a statement shared on Dec. 13, Gounder explained that his aortic aneurysm was “slowly growing, undetected.”
“Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetectedascending aortic aneurysmwith hemopericardium,” shewrote on Wahl’s Substack. “The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him.”
“His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death.”
Grant Wahl.
Before his death, Wahl revealedhe had bronchitisduring an episode of his podcast,Fútbol with Grant Wahl.
“My body told me, even after the U.S. went out, ‘Dude you are not sleeping enough.’ It rebelled on me,” he said.
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He visited the clinic at the media center for the games twice, he said, and though he was feeling better, he canceled all of his plans for the upcoming day.
Immediately after his death, U.S. Soccer released a statement via Twitter and said, “The entire U.S. Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl. Fans of soccer and journalism of the highest quality knew we could always count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game, and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches and the many personalities that make soccer unlike any sport.”
source: people.com
