It is with a very heavy heart that we report that Alex Chumpy Pullin is feared to have died in a shallow water spear fishing accident on the Gold Coast this morning.
As much as we want this not to be true, mainstream new channels are reporting the death as the Australian Olympic snowboarder drowned at Palm Beach despite emergency services trying to save him. It is believed they performed CPR for 45 minutes.
The 32 year old is believed to have suffered a shallow water blackout mid morning today.
Chumpy, as we have all come to know and love the boarder cross World Champion, was the flag bearer for the Australian Winter Olympic team at Sochi in 2014. He was a three time Winter Olympian.
#BREAKING: Winter Olympian Alex Pullin has died at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast in a spear fishing accident.
— ABC News (@abcnews) July 8, 2020
He won nine FIS Gold Medals plus 2 FIS World Championships, four FIS Silver Medals and seven FIS Bronze medals in his stellar career.
Our thoughts are with his immediate family, his huge circle of friends, his sponsorship family, his Winter Olympic community and the snowboard and ski community at large.
More to come.
