Son just weaned

Cardiac arrest! Olympic champion dies at the age of 43

Sean Burroughs(Bild: AP/Associated Press)

He enjoyed his high times as much as fate made him endure hell on earth, he became Olympic champion in 2000, but he also struggled with the scourge of alcohol and drug addiction - and now former baseball star Sean Burroughs has died at the age of just 43! A cardiac arrest unexpectedly took his life ... 

According to US media reports, Burroughs had just taken his six-year-old son Knox to baseball training when he collapsed in the parking lot and lost consciousness. When he was found next to his car, it was already too late: all attempts to resuscitate him on the spot had failed.

Burroughs, who was selected 9th overall in the 1998 Major League Baseball draft by the San Diego Padres, played a total of 528 games in the premier league of baseball in North America. He spent four seasons with the Californians, making the lion's share of his professional appearances for the Padres with 432 games.

"Thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time!"
"We mourn the passing of our former third baseman Sean Burroughs! Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time," the club condoled via Twitter.com. The now all-too-soon deceased also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Minnesota Twins in the MLB.

Before his last two engagements, Burroughs took a four-year "break" - due to drug and alcohol problems. "I tried to get high on as many substances as I could - legal or illegal," he once said in an interview with ESPN.

But the man who won gold with the US team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney fought his way out of this "hell" and actually returned to the MLB ...