Japan’s swimmers to defy altitude fears

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan’s Olympic swimmers will prepare for this year’s London Games by undergoing altitude training as planned, despite the death of Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen last week.

World 100 meter breaststroke world champion Dale Oen died after suffering a heart attack at a high altitude training camp in Arizona, prompting Japanese officials to rethink their plans.

However, the Japan Swimming Federation (JSF) told Reuters on Thursday that plans for eight swimmers to train at altitude in France and the United States would go ahead as planned.

“We feel great sorrow at what happened (to Dale Oen),” JSF executive director Masafumi Izumi said. “But the autopsy results did not immediately link his sudden death to the altitude.

“After holding an executive meeting we decided to take all necessary precautions and prepare the athletes in the safest way possible,” he added.

“We will send doctors to monitor the swimmers and before going we will conduct electrocardiogram and heart echo tests under low-oxygen conditions.”