OSLO – Norwegian world champion swimmer Alexander Dale Oen died of heart failure as the result of a blood clot in one of his coronary arteries, according to autopsy results published Tuesday.

“The autopsy report shows that Dale Oen had a coronary artery illness, meaning narrow blood vessels in the heart muscle due to serious atherosclerosis,” Olympiatoppen, which is responsible for Norwegian elite sport training, said in a statement published on the Aftenposten daily’s website.

The autopsy was conducted in the United States after the swimmer died on April 30 at a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The swimmer had collapsed in the bathroom of his hotel room after a training session and was found after his teammates thought he was taking an unusually long time, and became worried when there was no reply when they knocked on the door.

The team doctor had tried to resuscitate him, as did ambulance paramedics who arrived within minutes to take him to hospital, but to no avail, and he was declared dead at the hospital. — AFP