halbert noted that in some cases flaws in some Olympic athlete's routines could get them killed.
Curiosity got the better of me, so, somewhat apprehensively, I searched
died during olympic competition
and found in Wikipedia
"Olympic and Paralympic deaths"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/olympic_and_paralympic_deaths#in_competition_during_the_olympicswhich goes into painstaking detail about
the number of people who have died in an Olympic setting (almost more than one would want to know, actually), both for participants (both during training for and during actual competition) and non-participants.
It starts off:
"At the modern Olympic Games, up to and including the 2016 Summer Paralympics, 10 athletes have died while either competing in or practicing their sport. In addition, another 14 participants have died at the Olympics from other causes; 11 of these deaths resulted from the Munich massacre of 1972." As for halbert's wondering, has anyone ever actually died during competition, there seem to have been two cases of that:
Francisco Lázaro (21), Portugal – Runner – 1912, Stockholm – electrolyte imbalance/overheating
Knud Enemark Jensen (23), Denmark – Cyclist – 1960, Rome – heat stroke
And there is a further category, "During Olympic practice or after Olympic competition" which lists even more fatalities, as well as descript
ions of other loss of life at various Olympic gatherings over the years.
It may be that a demographic statistician might argue that simply because of the number of people assembling at these events, some deaths are going to be statistically likely, but seeing them presented in detail as in this Wikipedia article is revealing.
And we are left still wondering if a mistake on the part of some of them led to their demise.
That may have been the case for the runner Lazaro, who, according to another website:
"During the autopsy, it was discovered that Lazaro had covered his skin with wax, a common practice at the time to prevent sunburn. Unable to perspire normally, Lazaro died from an electrolyte imbalance."And in the case of Jensen, that same website notes:
"The official cause of death was heatstroke, though his doctor later admitted to giving Jensen and his teammates a vasodilator prior to the race. Due to the ensuing controversy about the real cause of Jensen's death, the Olympic Committee mandated drug tests be performed on all athletes. Mandatory drug testing began with the 1968 Winter Olympics."Which would seem to beg the question, how much is Olympic gold worth?