Lifelong swimmer dies while racing Great Chesapeake Bay Swim alongside his family

For the Matysek family, Maryland’s Great Chesapeake Bay Swim was an annual tradition that brought together 5 brothers and their families. But after the 2014 swim, the family was forced to come together for a different reason: to mourn the loss of brother Bob Matysek.

Bob Matysek was attempting the Bay crossing swim for his 20th year when he was pulled from the water, likely suffering from a heart attack, according to authorities. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead later that afternoon at the age of 58.

Bob Matysek was swimming in the race alongside two of his brothers, Tom and Jim, plus his nephew Carl. All five of the Matysek brothers were former collegiate swimmers and had all competed in the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim at various times throughout the years.

Bob looked forward to the Swim every year, according to his brother Tom. “As he describes it: ‘This is the best day after Christmas in the whole year,’” Tom Matysek told the local CBS affiliate.

Bob was in good physical condition and didn’t have a history of health problems, his brother Joe told SwimSwam. “This tragic turn of events has left us in shock,” Joe said. “Bob will be missed.”

There will be an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. You can read a local media outlet’s coverage here.

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Robert Maker
9 years ago

Our school district had a twelve year old die on the football practice field. He fell down passed out, his heart was racing. He got quick medical assistance yet died anyway. According to dr.Russell Blaylock a neurosurgeon this is a very common occurrence. According to the Cdc as many people die each year from sudden death syndrome as smoking. If you want to know the cause and therefore how to prevent this simply google excitotoxins 460000. The 460000 represents the number of yearly deaths caused by excitotoxins yet the FDA, AMA, or our corporate food manufacturers deny the connection. Spell check cannot recognize excitotoxins as a word yet I promise you many athletes with the strongest cardiovascular system around are… Read more »

9 years ago

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Matysek family in this difficult time.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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