I overcame heart problem to win Olympic gold in rowing

WINNING gold at last summer’s Olympics was twice as sweet for Tom James. Not only did he help row the coxless four to victory but he also overcame a potentially life-threatening heart condition.

Last summer Tom and fellow rowing heroes Alex Gregory, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed beat Australia in a nail-biting 6 minute 3.97 second race.

It was the fourth successive Games at which Great Britain’s coxless four, in a sport made famous by Sir Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell, had clinched gold.

“I think whenever you come through anything which has been a bit of an ordeal, reaching the finishing line is even more satisfying,” says Tom, 29, who also won gold at the Beijing games.

He discovered something wasn’t right in December 2011 during his usual intense daily training session on the indoor rowing machine.

“I’d just got back from a training camp in Spain and had been feeling very fit and healthy,” says Tom, from north Wales, who now lives in Henley-on-Thames.

“But one morning I got up and felt pretty terrible. I was totally exhausted after two minutes on the rowing machine when I should have been doing it for well over an hour.

“Initially I thought it was a virus and my body would soon fight it off but after a week and a half I still couldn’t train.” The heart rate monitors he used for his training consistently showed abnormal readings so he went to see a cardiologist at St George’s Hospital in South London.

Tom was wired up to an echocardiogram machine which revealed his heart’s erratic rhythm. Scans confirmed he had atrial fibrillation (AF) which affects around 1 in 100 people and one in 10 aged over 80.

As well as being found in the elderly or overweight and those who do not get enough exercise, it is also relatively common among young, fit athletes. Drinking increased amounts of alcohol can also bring it on.

In a normal functioning heart when muscle walls tighten the blood is forced around the body in a regular, smooth movement. If someone has AF, the top chambers of the heart (the atria) contract more randomly and less efficiently.

 
Tom conquered his AF to win gold with Alex Gregory, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed

This may lead to “pooling” of blood in parts of the heart and can cause clots which lead to strokes.

Symptoms of AF include shortness of breath, tiredness, palpitations, dizziness and blackouts but some people don’t experience any obvious signs at all.

“It was a big shock,” says Tom. “I’d had quite a few injuries before this. I thought they were behind me and I could finally look forward to hopefully being selected for the Olympics so this was a big blow. Your heart has a huge impact on every aspect of your life. It made it much scarier.”

Luckily, Tom’s treatment was straightforward. A single dose of the drug flecainide restored his heart’s natural rhythm.

“I missed five weeks of training at a crucial time but after taking the drug I was back into my schedule. If I hadn’t got it diagnosed and dealt with for another two weeks or so, I most likely wouldn’t have made the Olympics.”

Last month a Bupa study revealed a quarter of people wait until they have experienced an irregular heartbeat four times or more before seeing a doctor. Richard Schilling, professor of cardiology at Barts Health NHS Trust in London, says AF is treatable if diagnosed early.

“Tom was alerted when he couldn’t properly exercise but for some there are no obvious symptoms at all,” says Professor Schilling. “This can be a real problem in the elderly who are at a higher risk of a stroke.”

He suggests all of us, especially the over-65s, should regularly take our own pulses and check for irregularity. Various factors can lead to AF, from genetic causes to lifestyle.

In Tom’s case several of his family members have it. “The longer it’s left the harder it is to correct,” says Prof Schilling.

If I hadn’t got it diagnosed and dealt with for another two weeks or so, I most likely wouldn’t have made the Olympics

Tom James

“For those with AF the heart is working abnormally in how it pumps blood. The quicker it is rectified the better.”

Although Tom was able to take a well-established drug to correct it, some patients require a procedure called catheter ablation. It involves soft wires being threaded along leg veins to the heart to locate the abnormality. An energy source then destroys the part of the heart tissue causing the erratic rhythm.

Tom knows he could require this surgery in the future if his irregular heartbeat returns but he is now alert to the signs.

He is still deciding whether to bow out at the top. “The London Olympics was such a fantastic, unique experience and it would have been awful to have missed it,” says Tom. “After we crossed the line I remember feeling delighted but also relieved that my heart had held out and got me through it all.”

[express]