U.S. wrestler Alan Vera died Monday night after suffering sudden cardiac arrest during a soccer game earlier this year, according to a statement from USA Wrestling. He was 33.
A fixture on the Greco-Roman national team who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Vera went into cardiac arrest while playing soccer with friends in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 29, according to an Instagram post from his club soccer team, New Jersey Wolves FC. He was hospitalized for several weeks before ‘an unexpected infection took hold over the weekend,’ according to a GoFundMe page created on his family’s behalf.
Vera is survived by his wife, two-time Olympic wrestler Elena Pirozhkova, and their infant daughter Alina, who was born earlier this summer.
‘Our hearts have been broken,’ USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender said in a statement. ‘Our sincere thoughts and prayers go out to Elena, Alina and all of Alan’s family, as well as those who have known Alan. The wrestling community mourns the loss of a great champion, whose incredible life impacted so many within USA Wrestling and around the world.’
Vera was born in Cuba and first competed under its flag, winning four Cuban national championships early in his career as well as a Pan American title in 2016. Later that same year, he immigrated to the United States, where he pursued U.S. citizenship and soon became eligible to represent Team USA.
Vera went on to compete for the U.S. at the world championships in both 2021 and 2022 and spend four years on the U.S. national team in Greco-Roman wrestling, a discipline in which holds below the waist are not allowed. He also secured a Paris Olympics quota spot for Team USA at 97 kilograms by virtue of his performance at an Olympic qualifying event in Mexico, though he did not ultimately win the right to fill that spot, finishing second to Josef Rau at the Olympic trials earlier this year.
USA Wrestling said Tuesday that it had not received information for memorial services for Vera. The GoFundMe account intended to help support his family, and provide childcare for his recently-born daughter, had raised nearly $43,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
