by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News August 16, 2023
Helen Smart, who swam for Great Britain in the 2000 Olympics, died suddenly on Aug. 12, Daily Mail Online reported. She was 42.
Smart was found dead by her four-year-old daughter who told her husband: “Daddy, I can’t wake mummy up,” the report said.
No cause of death has been reported.
Smart, who was a headteacher following her swimming career, remained active and had been paddle boarding on Friday night just hours before she died.
Her mother, Linda, told the Daily Mail: “We are just in so much shock. You jump from believing it to not believing it. She had been paddle boarding a few hours before and had never even been ill apart from her knees swelling from swimming. We’re distraught. They don’t know what it is but they think it must have happened shortly after she went to bed. She just died in her sleep.”
Smart was a world level competitive swimmer and backstroke specialist who won a bronze medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and silver medals at the World and European Championships.
In a tweet, Olympic medalist Sharron Davies wrote: “This is very sad news. Always a pleasure to interview & always a huge smile on her face. A Fierce competitor.”
After representing Great Britain at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, she decided to retire and become the headteacher of Worsley Mesnes Community Primary School in Wigan.
Helen’s husband, Craig Smart, said that his wife “loved the school, staff, children and parents so much” and was “so proud to reach her goal of being headteacher. I remember only last week she said her goal was to get the school to outstanding and that she had the right staff to achieve this! I hope you all keep learning like champions.”
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