The Samoan Olympic boxing team is mourning the devastating loss of Lionel Elika Fatupaito, their highly respected coach who passed away on Friday, the 26th, in the athletes’ village located in Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
According to reports, the cause of death was a cardiac arrest. He was 60.
Fatupaito became ill in his room at approximately 10:20 a.m. local time on Friday, shortly before the opening ceremony was scheduled to start in Paris. According to Le Parisien, he was accompanied by an athlete when he had a sudden medical emergency. Despite the intervention of emergency services, he was declared deceased at the scene from “natural causes.”
