08/21/26 09:17:00
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08/21 09:15 CDT Jenny Simpson reveals rare heart condition caused her collapse;
she will not return to running
Jenny Simpson reveals rare heart condition caused her collapse; she will not
return to running
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) --- World champion runner Jenny Simpson revealed it was a
rare heart condition that threw her into cardiac arrest at a race in June and
that she will not return to running.
In an Instagram post Thursday, the 39-year-old Simpson said she was diagnosed
with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a condition that
triggered "dangerous heart rhythms that ultimately caused my heart to stop."
She said the diagnosis means it would be dangerous to return to running.
"That chapter has ended," she said. "Thankfully, my story hasn't."
Simpson was pacing a group of girls in a mile run at an event in Raleigh, North
Carolina, when she collapsed. She underwent CPR at the track and an automated
external defibrillator was also used before medics rushed her to the hospital.
"You might be wondering what would be the right thing to say to me after an
event like this," she wrote. "Please do not say that you're sorry or that you
feel bad for me. If it is true in your heart, please tell me you're glad that
I'm here. That's how I feel --- so glad that I'm still here."
For about a decade beginning in 2007, Simpson was America's most successful
women's 1,500-meter runner. She won worlds in 2011, finished second there twice
and won Olympic bronze in Rio in 2016.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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