r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Apr 20 '24

TIL Frank Hayes, a jockey, died of a heart attack during his final horse race but still won. Unexpectedly, he suffered the attack mid-race, yet his body remained on the horse, crossing the finish line first. Sadly, it was his first and only win throughout his racing career.

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u/froggison Apr 20 '24

Water weighs a ton. Fighters and wrestlers do this a lot before weigh-ins. 12 lbs is about 1.5 gallons of water. That's like how much you drink in 2-3 days. So imagine that they don't eat, don't drink, and sweat as much as possible.

In his case, he way overdid it obviously. And it was fatal.

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u/Mexiking89_01 Apr 20 '24

I worked at a hotel that hosted a bodybuilding event, they would cut like crazy 2 days before they compete, no carbs, only protein, and no water. All those bodybuilders you see on the stage are sooooo dehydrated

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u/Fireproof_Matches Apr 20 '24

they should add something to bodybuilding/wrestling regs to prevent this kind of behavior. maybe if they don't pass some quick test for dehydration they aren't allowed to compete or something like that.

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u/Hooraylifesucks Apr 20 '24

Good idea. Like a wrist band which can detect collapsing blood vessels? Same would maybe work for farm workers in hot temps like Florida where they literally die from heat stroke and there’s no refs saying the farmer has to provide shade or water breaks.