Disabled athlete drowns in swim race

George Town (Cayman Islands), May 29 (IANS/CMC): Cayman Islands police say a member of Uruguay’s Special Olympics swim team has apparently drowned during a competition in the waters off a popular beach.

A police statement identifies the dead man as 41-year-old Pablo Jose Perez Larza and said the athlete died Saturday after having difficulty while taking part in an 800-metre sea swim off Grand Cayman Island’s Seven Mile Beach.

The Butterfield 800-m swim, in which Larza was participating, was an open water swimming event for Special Olympics athletes.

Larza, who was pulled from the water unconscious and pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after, is suspected of suffering a cardiac arrest while competing in the event.

Police say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, though the exact cause is still being determined by the hospital.

Larza won three silver medals in the 2012 World Aquatics International competition for the 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, and freestyle relay race.