“People have already died from it”
World champion trainer fought for his life
April 25, 2026 – 2:40 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
A “difficult time” followed a Covid illness: the former national basketball coach speaks in an interview about major health problems last year. The heart was worried.
Former national coach Gordon Herbert, who led the German national basketball team to the World Cup title in 2023, suffered from serious health problems last year, including inflammation of the heart muscle.
The 67-year-old Canadian said in retrospect in an interview with the portal “basketball-world.news”: “I was lying in bed with myocarditis and another heartbeat and asked myself whether I could get through it.”
That was very threatening, Herbert emphasized: “I know that people have already died from it.” It happened during his time as head coach of FC Bayern. He had Covid at the time and suffered greatly from it.
“Ultimately I was lucky because the doctors discovered I had an extra heartbeat and took me out of circulation,” Herbert said. He was then diagnosed with inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) and two heart valves no longer closed properly.
Herbert looked after the German national team from 2021 to 2024. He had previously coached Alba Berlin and the Skyliners Frankfurt, among others, before moving to Munich. In mid-October last year, Herbert stood on the sidelines wearing a breathing mask before missing a few games. After three weeks he coached again and then Bayern decided to change the coaching position.
“It was a difficult time. I couldn’t imagine that Covid could be so dangerous,” Herbert recalled. He put his work as a trainer above his own health. “I paid a price for that. It got really bad and I was sleeping 16 to 17 hours a day. I was in bed for almost two and a half weeks.”
Herbert, who will start working as Canada’s national coach in July, is now doing well again. “The doctors did a lot of tests and said that I had the heart of a 40-year-old. That helped me get through this during this time.”
