Bodybuilder Mateusz Chmura, 33, of Wakefield, collapsed on stage on Sunday, 18 October, at the Telford International Centre, in the PCA British finals of classic bodybuilding, medium class. The Physical Culture Association announced the death. He died in hospital. No medical cause has been confirmed in public.

News.ro, via RMC Sport, writes that he would have turned 34 the next day. It was his second contest; two weeks earlier he had finished second. The PCA said he was treated at the venue by first-aid teams, paramedics and the Midlands Air Ambulance crew, then taken to hospital. “Sadly, despite everyone’s best efforts, he later passed away.”

The Independent quotes the same statement, issued on Monday. The event was stopped while he was treated. After he had left for hospital, and before news of his death was known, the organisers met the athletes and resumed the show. Front Double, also on the PCA text, adds the class: Classic Bodybuilding Medium, day two of the British finals.

The PCA asked that the family’s privacy be respected and thanked the medics in the hall, the paramedics, the helicopter crew and the hospital staff. It said it would give further information when it was appropriate. The cause of death, Front Double underlined, remains unknown; speculation about the sport does not stand in for a post-mortem.

His wife, whom he had married about two months earlier, has disowned an unauthorised fundraising campaign. The Independent names her Patrycja Chmura. She wrote that she had “absolutely nothing to do” with it, that she had not authorised anyone to collect money in the family’s name, and that she was in a pain for which, for now, she had no words. A death announced by the federation is not a diagnosis. A fake donations page does not stand in for the cause.

Source consulted: England: a bodybuilder died during a contest. The next day he would have turned 34 — News.ro.

Image: Telford International Centre, 16 August 2024, TCExplorer, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons / Geograph. The venue, not Sunday’s stage.

Sources consulted: Bodybuilder dies after collapsing on stage the day before his 34th birthday — The Independent.