A Twitter Story about the Football World Cup Finals: Grant Wahl and the Biden-Harris Transition Covid-19, a Contribution to Sports Illustrated,
The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”
“I am so thankful for the support of my husband Grant Wahl’s soccer family and of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. Gounder, who was a contributor for CNN, was on the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board.
A post on his official account said he had just celebrated his birthday with a group of media friends at the World Cup.
“It had gotten pretty bad in terms of like the tightness in my chest, tightness, pressure. Wahl told Wittyngham in the episode that he was feeling pretty hairy. He added that he sought help at the medical clinic at the World Cup media center, believing he had bronchitis.
This is not my first rodeo. I’ve done eight of these on the men’s side,” he said at the time. I have gotten sick to some extent at every tournament, and it’s just about figuring a way to get your work done.
He further described the incident in a recent newsletter published on December 5, writing that his body had “broke down” after he had little sleep, high stress and a heavy workload. He got a cold for 10 days and had to go to the doctor, who said he felt worse after taking antibiotics and sleeping.
Remembering James (Jackiw) Wahl: Football Legend, Sports Illustrated Magazine and His Contribution to the World Cup 2020 Editorial Board
Wahl had made headlines in November by reporting that he was detained and briefly refused entry to a World Cup match because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.
Grant was recognized by both FIFA and AIPS for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive World Cup, said Infantino in a statement.
“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.
According to his website, Wahl covered soccer for 21 years, and wrote a number of books on the sport.
It was noted in the statement that Wahl worked with other media outlets. He left Sports Illustrated in 2020 and subsequently started publishing a newsletter.
On Friday, a basketball star said he had been fond of Grant. The cover story of James was done when he was in high school.
Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League and other sporting bodies had their ownCondolences shared by members of the US soccer team.
The humiliating death of an international player during the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar impacted by human rights violations – CNN’s Eric Wahl
Its human rights record has been heavily criticized. And, since the tournament began last month, the Persian Gulf country’s rules prohibiting same-sex relations have been front and center. It’s illegal in Qatar and punishable by jailtime. Several European team captains were threatened with yellow cards when they said they’d wear special rainbow armbands.
Eric Wahl said his brother had received death threats while in Qatar because of the rainbow shirt and his continued reporting on FIFA and the Qatari government.
But there was so much depth to Grant, as he wasn’t just a reporter who wrote about wins and losses. He was fearless in his pursuit of the truth, and he routinely shone an uncomfortably bright light on the darker side of professional sports highlighting human rights abuses, and speaking up for those voices who had been silenced.
He was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.
Wahl was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN Saturday.
The match ended at the end of extra time. The colleagues that were up to my left began shouting for help. Someone had collapsed. Because the chairs are freestanding, people were able to move them so there was a little bit of space around him.
An 80-year-old World Cup Reporter in Los Alamos, Chile — The Memories of a Legendary Player during the World Cup
It was 5 a.m and I couldn’t sleep; my mind was replaying the extraordinary drama of Argentina’s penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands, over and over again.
Grant had been tweeting about the match, he’d posted about the improbable stoppage-time Dutch equalizer which took the match into extra time. But then, as more than 80,000 fans were absorbed by the drama on the field, Grant was fighting for his life. As we now know, frantic efforts to revive him were tragically unsuccessful.
If my own personal experience is anything to go by, for many of the journalists covering the World Cup in Qatar, the hours since then have been a surreal and nauseating blur.
Many of us come to love Grant because the interview featured so many things that we loved. He was charming, kind and just so happy to be covering his eighth men’s World Cup and the game he loved. We discussed the t-shirt escapade, Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest antics, and the imminent clash between Team USA and England.
We have had frequent interactions over social media and televised interviews and we are now friends because of it.
One time, his wife accidentally walked into the room and almost stepped out for a global audience while we were talking on a phone, I can vividly remember. He did not break his stride and waved her away.
Dr grounder was a public face of the fightback against Covid 19, and she hid her pride in her achievements from the public. He gushed about her two weeks ago.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/football/grant-wahl-tribute-spt-intl/index.html
LeBron James, Grant Wahl, and the Chosen One: The First World Cup in person with Max Rushden and the Iconic Torch Hotel
As a writer for Sports Illustrated, Wahl quickly made his name, introducing the then High School athlete LeBron James to the world with one of his many cover stories and the headline, “The Chosen One.” James, the NBA great, led the tributes to the man who passed away just hours before. It is sad that someone as great as he was has died.
The tribute on Saturday was so effusive that no one could doubt his impact. “I’m not sure people outside of the United States understand Grant’s impact on football there,” tweeted the British football broadcaster Max Rushden, “I certainly didn’t until I read the tributes.”
In 2011, just months after FIFA’s controversial decision to award the current World Cup to Qatar, he campaigned to be elected as the new President, promising to rid soccer’s world governing body of corruption, “Let’s cure FIFA of its [Sepp] Blatter infection,” he famously promised.
A couple of days later, we both attended the same Thanksgiving Lunch at the Iconic Torch Hotel, and later that night, at 1:30 a.m, he joined us live in our Doha studio. He was keen to appear on the show, but was so busy that this was the only slot he had available.
He mentioned his new business venture before the interview, and wondered if he would be able to break even on the trip. He also told us he had been setting himself aggressive targets to deliver content for his paying subscribers.
But on that night, we were joking about the fact that on only day five of the tournament, I’d lost my voice. My first World Cup in person, and my first time taking a flight across time zones, made for a punishing schedule and gave me time to surrender to the flight.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/football/grant-wahl-tribute-spt-intl/index.html
What next for Clash of Clandestines at the Fermilab Tevatron Lambda CDM?
He said there was a search for respect and validation from the US which has historically viewed the growth of the same game with a different name across the pond. He knew that the tide was turning and that attitudes were changing.
As was the case with life, there’s a time limit for an interview and we were close to the end. Needing to get it done quickly and thrown back to the main studio, I told Grant that it would be interesting to see what happened next.