A top former British athlete was found dead in a way that I would never wish on anyone.
According to the report, Helen Smart, who competed as Helen Don-Duncan in the 2000 Olympics, was found dead recently.
Sadly, it was her four-year-old daughter that was the first to see her.
Tough Day
Smart was on holiday with her family when she unexplainably died.
She had been out paddleboarding in the evening and everything seemed fine.
When she went to turn in, she told her mother that she was tired and knew her daughter would be in very early in the morning to wake her up.
That “goodnight” was the last anyone would hear from her.
As predicted, her daughter tried to get in bed with Smart in the morning, but Smart would not awake to the child’s prodding.
She told her father, Curtis Smart, “Daddy, I can’t wake mommy up.”
Curtis just figured she was tired from the activity the night before, but when they went and checked on her, her body was already cold and lifeless.
Helen’s mother, Linda, stated, “We are just in so much shock. You jump from believing it to not believing it.
“’She had been paddle boarding a few hours before and had never even been ill apart from her knees swelling from swimming.
“We’re distraught. They don’t know what it is but they think it must have happened shortly after she went to bed. She just died in her sleep.”
Smart was an elite swimmer, having a mantle full of trophies and medals, but she fell short in the 200m backstroke in the Olympics, finishing in 15th place.
She was only 43 years old.
Source: New York Post
