Eivind Henriksen is waiting for a heart operation.
Norwegian Eivind Henriksen, 31, won the World Cup bronze in the shot put on Saturday in Eugene. The achievement was not celebrated much, as the athlete was hospitalized soon after the race.
– I was feeling tired. It didn’t feel like I won a World Cup medal, he said to NRK.
Henriksen suffered from atrial fibrillation since the warm-up.
The Norwegian was not very worried at first, as he has had arrhythmias since he was 13 years old. It later turned out that it was a more serious case than usual.
– It usually takes a few hours for it to pass. I have the meds if it (shudder) lasts too long.
– The medicines worked poorly that day. I went to bed even though I had atrial fibrillation. It continued when I woke up the next morning. I had to go to the hospital to check it out.
According to Henriksen, long-lasting atrial fibrillation is associated with the risk of blood clots, because the heart does not pump normally during the arrhythmia.
The World Cup medalist published a video on his Instagram account with pictures from the hospital. The thrower is lying on the bed with the monitor and wires connected to him.
If the video does not appear, you can watch its here.
A heart film was taken from the recent World Cup medalist at the hospital. According to the doctors, the alternative was to give a larger dose of the medicine already in use or to perform an electronic rhythm transfer.
– Rhythm transfer would mean anesthesia and a blow to the heart. I’ve never had that procedure done, so I wanted to avoid it.
Henriksen was given a larger dose of medicine. An hour later, the atrial fibrillation stopped.
The ordeal lasted 23 hours in total.
– We watched from the monitor that the heart beat 80, then 140 times per minute. Suddenly the pulse slowed down and the rhythm was steady.
To the operation
Eivind Henriksen was hospitalized. PDO
It was the first time this year that Henriksen suffered from arrhythmias.
The Norwegian athlete was scheduled to undergo surgery last fall. However, he postponed the operation because of his sports career.
– I was put in the normal queue, so I wouldn’t have been able to have the surgery until January. It would have been too late, because after the operation you are not allowed to train hard for four weeks.
The Norwegian is going for an operation after the European Athletics Championships. Mittelöt will take place in Munich from the 15th to the 21st. August.
Henriksen won the WC bronze in Eugene with his season’s best result of 80.87. The medal was Norway’s first in the shot put at the World Championships.
Henriksen also has last summer’s Olympic silver.