Pregnant Olympic Runner Collapses and Dies

ABCNews.com—July 18, 2013

A former Olympic runner, who was eight months pregnant, died suddenly Wednesday at a restaurant in Hamden, Conn. Emergency personnel were able to safely deliver her baby at a nearby hospital.

Meskerem Legesse, 26, was getting takeout food from a Chinese restaurant with her 2-year-old son when she suddenly collapsed and died.

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Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said that underlying heart problems can be exacerbated by pregnancy.

"Anytime you're pregnant, it's like you're jogging when you're walking or you're sprinting when you're jogging," said Metzl. "It's just more strain."

This story originally appeared at abcnews.go.com.