HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alexander Dale Oen (; 21 May 198530 April 2012) was a Norwegian swimmer. He represented the clubs Vestkantsvømmerne (1995–2010) and Bærumsvømmerne (2011–2012). Dale Oen's gold at the 2008 European Championships made him the first Norwegian male to win a medal at a major international long course championship. Dale Oen got his international breakthrough in 2005, placing seventh in the 100-metre
breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...
during the 2005 World Aquatics Championships. During the European short-course Championships in December the same year, he swam the 100 m breaststroke in 59.05 seconds, placing fourth and setting a new Nordic Record. He became the first Norwegian to swim this distance in less than 1 minute. At the Norwegian Short Course Championships two months later, he bettered that time to 58.81, a world best mark for the year. On 30 April 2012, at around 19:50
MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...
Dale Oen was found unconscious in his hotel bathroom after having suffered a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
, caused by chronic, undetected
coronary heart disease Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), myocardial ischemia, or simply heart disease, involves the reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle due to build-up of atherosclerotic pla ...
, a rare disease for a person of his age and fitness. He was found in his bathroom by one of his teammates, and CPR was performed before Dale Oen was brought to
Flagstaff Medical Center Flagstaff Medical Center is a major regional hospital and level I trauma center in Flagstaff, Arizona. The hospital was founded in 1936 by Dr. Charles Sechrist as ''Flagstaff Hospital,'' with 25 beds, and was donated to the community of Flagstaf ...
. He was pronounced dead at 21:00 MST. Dale Oen was attending a training camp with the Norwegian swimming team in
Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...
at the time of his death.


Competitions

At the 2006 FINA Short Course World Championships in Shanghai, Dale Oen won a bronze medal in the 100 m breaststroke, behind
Oleg Lisogor Oleh Lisohor (born 17 January 1979 in Brovary, Kyiv Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian swimmer. Career Lisohor is the former world record holder in the 50 metres breaststroke, long course, with 27.18 seconds. The record was set in Berlin on ...
and
Brenton Rickard Brenton Scott Rickard (born 19 October 1983) is a retired breaststroke swimmer from Australia. He emerged at the international level in 2006, swimming at the Commonwealth games. He has captured multiple Olympic and World Championship medals, a ...
, and thus became the first Norwegian male to win a World Championships medal in swimming. Four months later, he followed that up with success at the 2006 European Swimming Championships, winning the silver medal in the 100 m breaststroke and setting a new Nordic record (
long course An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...
), with 1:00.63. Dale Oen won his first short-course medal at the 2006 Short Course European Championships in Helsinki, taking bronze behind two Ukrainians in the 100 m breaststroke in a new personal best of 58.70. In the 2007 World Championships, Dale Oen was second fastest in the heats (setting another Nordic record, 1:00.34) and third fastest in the semifinal, but failed in the final, clocking well above 1:01. Dale Oen repeated the feat of doing better in the semifinal than the final at the 2007 European Short Course Championships. After 58.60, a new personal best and the second-fastest time, in the semifinals, Dale Oen finished in fifth place with a time of 58.81, 0.24 seconds behind the gold medal. However, Dale Oen dominated the 2008 European Championships, setting a record time of 1:00.11 in the heats, and being fastest in both the heats and the semifinal, Dale Oen swam the final in a European record time of 59.76, and won the gold by 0.02 seconds ahead of
Hugues Duboscq Hugues Duboscq (born 29 August 1981 in Saint-Lô, Manche, France) is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer from France. He swam for France at the 2000, 2004, 2008 Olympics and 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of th ...
. At the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
, Dale Oen earned Norway's first ever Olympic medal in swimming, placing second in the 100 m breaststroke final. During the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, Dale Oen won the gold medal in the 100 m breaststroke with the time 58.71, 0.71 seconds ahead of
Fabio Scozzoli Fabio Scozzoli (born 8 August 1988) is an Italian swimmer. At the 2012 World Short Course Championships, he won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke. He is the 2022 Mediterranean champion in the 50 metre breaststroke. Career On 25 Jul ...
. This was Norway's first gold medal at a World Championship in swimming. Dale Oen's win was highly publicized because of his emotional response at the award ceremony because of the Oslo attacks a few days earlier.


Personal bests


Long course (50 m)


Short course (25 m)


Death

On 30 April 2012, Dale Oen collapsed in the shower at his training camp in
Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...
. When his teammates thought he was spending a long time showering, they knocked on the door and flicked the light on and off, to which there was no response. They then broke in the door and began administering
CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
until the ambulance arrived. Dale Oen was transferred to hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival, aged 26. An initial autopsy was inconclusive, but a second revealed that Dale Oen suffered from severe atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, with the three main
coronary arteries The coronary arteries are the arterial blood vessels of coronary circulation, which transport oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. The heart requires a continuous supply of oxygen to function and survive, much like any other tissue or organ of ...
feeding his
myocardium Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle, myocardium, cardiomyocytes and cardiac myocytes) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, with the other two being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that ...
up to 90 percent occluded by
atherosclerotic plaque An atheroma, or atheromatous plaque, is an abnormal and reversible accumulation of material in the inner layer of an arterial wall. The material consists of mostly macrophage cells, or debris, containing lipids, calcium and a variable amount o ...
, as well as an enlarged heart, and that he died of a
myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...
. The autopsy also revealed that he had suffered a series of small heart attacks in the months prior to his death, which apparently went unrecognised. He had experienced pain that radiated down his arm, and into his shoulder, face and chest, but this was attributed to a shoulder injury and a
pinched nerve Radiculopathy, also commonly referred to as pinched nerve, refers to a set of conditions in which one or more nerves are affected and do not work properly (a neuropathy). Radiculopathy can result in pain (radicular pain), weakness, altered sensati ...
. The only conventional risk factors Dale Oen had for heart disease were a "slightly elevated
cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
level" and the fact that his grandfather died suddenly at 42, of an unknown cause. His death reminded many of the death of fellow athlete
Sergei Grinkov Sergei Mikhailovich Grinkov (russian: Сергей Михайлович Гриньков; 4 February 1967 – 20 November 1995) was a Russian pair skater. Together with his wife Ekaterina Gordeeva, he was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion and ...
, who also died of coronary artery disease seventeen years earlier at age 28. His funeral was held on 11 May 2012, in
Øygarden Øygarden is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the county. The village of Straume is the administrative centre of the ...
, Norway.


Tribute

On 2 August 2012, Hungarian swimmer
Dániel Gyurta Dániel Gyurta (; born 4 May 1989) is a Hungarian former competitive swimmer who mainly competed in the 200-metre breaststroke. In 2016, Gyurta became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is a member of the European Olympic ...
, who won the men's 200 m breaststroke at the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, offered a copy of his gold medal to Dale Oen's family in order to honor their friendship.
Cameron van der Burgh Cameron van der Burgh OIS (born 25 May 1988) is a retired South African competitive swimmer and hedge fund analyst. He is Africa's first home-trained world record holder and individual male Olympic Champion. He is married to long time partne ...
of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, who won the men's 100 m breaststroke and broke the World Record dedicated the swim to Dale Oen because Dale Oen was one of his close friends and greatest rival. The new public swimming pool in
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
is named Alexander Dale Oen Arena (ADO Arena) in his honour. Among others, the Norwegian prime minister
Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg w ...
held a speech at the opening of ADO Arena in 2014, naming Dale Oen as perhaps the greatest athlete of the country.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale Oen, Alexander 1985 births 2012 deaths Olympic silver medalists for Norway Norwegian male breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers of Norway World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming People from Øygarden Sportspeople from Bergen Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming 20th-century Norwegian people 21st-century Norwegian people