32-Year-Old Dies During Triathlon

The death of an athlete competing in the Nautica New York City Triathlon in Manhattan cast a pall over yesterday's event.

Esteban Neiva, 32, a resident of Buenos Aires, Argentina, began struggling during the swimming portion of the race in the Hudson River, and was pulled unconscious from the water by emergency medical workers who tried to revive him, according to the race director, Bill Burke. After attempts to resuscitate Neiva failed, he was brought to land at the 79th Street Boat Basin in Riverside Park and then transported by ambulance to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 8:36 a.m.

The city medical examiner is performing an autopsy, and cardiac arrest is suspected as a possible cause of death.

Considered one of the most difficult endurance events in sports, triathlons have been associated with deaths in the past. Most recently, a 45-year-old man died on June 29, while swimming in the Pacific Crest Triathlon in Oregon. That incident came a week after a 46-year-old man participating in the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa, died after faltering during the swimming portion of the event. A 37-year-old man died in May during the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City Beach, Fla., also while swimming.