Sergei Grinkov the muscular 28-year-old champion skater famous for his athletic leaps had the heart of a feeble old man, an autopsy revealed yesterday.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who died of massive cardiac arrest Monday, had no idea he suffered from heart disease so severe that the coronary artery feeding blood to his enlarged heart was almost entirely closed.
The talented Russian skater was doomed, said Dr. Francis Varga, who performed the autopsy at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, N.

Y.
“It was only a question of time,” Varga said. “The entire front half of his heart and the left side of his heart muscle was deprived of oxygen. . . . Unless his condition was discovered and he had a bypass, the probability of survival for him was remote.

”
Grinkov knew he had high blood pressure. But he had no idea how close he was to death when he skated onto the rink Monday with his wife, Ekaterina Gordeeva his partner on ice as well as in life.
Varga said Grinkov had suffered a minor heart attack six to eight hours earlier. But the skater never mentioned it, if he even realized it had happened. There was no hint that he wasn’t in top condition.
“He was clearly in very good health except for this one problem,” Varga said.
A routine examination would not have found the problem. “It could only have been picked up by a stress test,” Varga said.
But such tests are not performed “unless someone complains of pain,” he said, adding, “these athletes are tough, they fight through pain.

”
No drugs or alcohol were in Grinkov’s system, Varga said.
Grinkov collapsed and died in his wife’s arms. They had been twirling around on the USA Rink, rehearsing the Stars on Ice show.
“Everything seemed to be fine,” said witness Laura Nardiello. “He lifted her, put her down and then just stepped back. Gordeeva asked, ‘Are you okay?

‘ He said, ‘I just feel a little dizzy.

“‘
Gordeeva reached him just as he passed out.
Grinkov and Gordeeva, who met as pre-schoolers in their native Moscow, were known for powerful lifts and spectacular throws. The couple has a 3-year-old daughter, Daria.