World-champion swimmer Alexander Dale Oen went through a light workout Monday morning at the University of Northern Arizona's Wall Aquatic Center, then took a drug test and spoke with friends about building a single-speed bicycle upon his return to his native Norway.
About 12 hours later, after teammates grew alarmed because of his absence, Oen was found dead in his bathroom at the team hotel. The team doctor performed CPR at the hotel, but Oen was declared dead at Flagstaff Medical Center. He was 26.
Norwegian swimming federation president Per Rune Eknes confirmed to The Associated Press that Dale Oen died of cardiac arrest but said it was unclear what caused it. An autopsy is expected to be performed in the next few days.
"It's beyond tragic," said Sean Anthony, whose Hypo-2 Sports Management company has brought in 60 national teams from 16 countries to train at Flagstaff's' altitude.
Anthony said the Norwegian swimming team has trained in Flagstaff every year since 2003, so he got to know the group well.
Anthony rode a single-speed bicycle to the pool Monday morning, piquing Oen's interest.
"I would see Alex every day," Anthony said in a telephone interview. "I spent a lot of time with him (Monday). He saw the bike, and we were talking about it. He wanted to buy a frame and fix it up when he got home.
"It's so easy to idealize a person in circumstances such as this, but he really was a good guy. He was very personable."
Oen was among those who were tested by doping control agents Monday, but Anthony said he believed there was no correlation between the test and the athlete's death.
"Just because you are an elite athlete doesn't make you any less vulnerable. That's the sad reality of life," Anthony said. "And there was no relationship with what happened to altitude. It could have happened as easily in the Phoenix airport."
Oen won the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the gold medal at the 2011 world championships in the same event in Shanghai.
He was considered one of Norway's top medal hopes at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and Anthony said the coaches were pleased with his progress during the Flagstaff training sessions.
"He could have won a gold medal. It was all coming together for him. The coaches were smiling and slapping each other on the back for what could happen in London this summer," Anthony said.
Oen became an inspiration to his countrymen when he dedicated his Shanghai victory to the victims of a mass shooting in Norway by a right-wing extremist three days before the meet. Seventy-seven people died in the attack.
"We need to stay united," Oen said in Shanghai. "Everyone back home now is of course paralyzed with what happened, but it was important for me to symbolize that even though I'm here in China, I'm able to feel the same emotions."
"He's a hero," NAU swimming coach Andy Johns said in a phone interview from his office Tuesday morning.
"It's a sullen day around the pool. It's very sad. He was just the nicest person, too. Humble. Gracious."
The Norwegian national team had been in Flagstaff for about three weeks to train for the European championships in Antwerp, the Netherlands, at the end of May. The team is to leave for Norway on Wednesday.
Anthony said he spent much of the morning and early afternoon Tuesday consoling swimmers at the team hotel. It is a large contingent — 27 swimmers and team officials — and their emotions ran the gamut.
"The word is stunned. There is a continuum of response. Some are morose, lost in their own thoughts. Others are screaming and pulling their hair out," Anthony said.
"We are all in shock," Norwegian Olympic swimming coach Petter Lovberg said in a statement. "That is an out-of-body experience for the whole team over here. Our thoughts now go primarily to the families who have lost Alexander too early.
"Words cannot describe the grief they and we know now. For us here in Flagstaff, it is important now that we stand together and take care of swimmers and each other. It is an unreal situation for everyone, and we have some tough days ahead."
Northern Arizona ran a high-altitude training facility on campus until budget cuts ended the program in 2009, but many world-class athletes continue to train in Flagstaff.
The Canadian paralympics team and the Dutch triathlon team currently are training at the Wall Aquatic Center, and a team of Japanese marathon runners is training in Flagstaff, which is about 7,000 feet above sea level.
"Almost everybody who ends up getting a medal will have spent some time at altitude in preparation for the Games," Johns said of the international swimming community.
