Signs of Thaddeus Cheong's death?

SINGAPORE: The family of teenager Thaddeus Cheong, who died at a triathlon selection race on Sunday, is not blaming anyone.

This was despite the apparent lack of medical personnel on site, at the time of the incident.

Thaddeus had been eager to represent Singapore at the upcoming South East Asian Games.

The 17-year-old Raffles Junior College student started training for it three years ago.

He even participated in races in South Korea last year, to gain some competitive experience.

On Sunday, Thaddeus had completed the SEA Games trial in good time.

His parents said he finished the race in 2 hours and 9 minutes, which is about 3 minutes faster than the qualification mark.

But Thaddeus collapsed after crossing the finishing line.

He did not respond to his parents, who had rushed to his side.

Doctors failed to revive him and the teen died in hospital from cardio-respiratory failure.

The Triathlon Association of Singapore (TAS) said although there were no medical personnel on site, the coaches present were all trained in first-aid.

Thaddeus' parents said TAS has been very good to their two sons who are triathlon enthusiasts.

And for now, they just want to remember Thaddeus, who did them proud.

"My son enjoyed the training very much, he was very determined... always looking forward, sometimes he would ask his daddy to wake up early and bring him to train... he really enjoyed it," said Thaddeus' mother Angeline Wee. - CNA/yy

I believe everyone in Singapore is equally sad and shocked to hear such a piece of news. However, I made an amazing discovery.



During the recent TAS Inter-Collegiate & Schools Biathlon Challenge 2007, Thaddeus did not complete his race. According to Jiexun, who participated in the event and competed against Thaddeus in the Junior Colleges Divisions Senior 'A' Boys category, he said that Thaddeus dropped out of the race but he did not know the reason.

As can be seen from the above picture, there is a "DNF" remark under Thaddeus' name, which stands for "Did Not Finish".

The race was held on the 21st of April 2007, approximately 2 months before the unfortunate incident happened.

Were there already warning signs that were overlooked?

Jiexun said that perhaps he dropped out of the race because of muscle cramps, but then again, I don't think we can rule out the possibility that his withdrawal from the biathlon in April has a link to his death.

What do you think?