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'Olympic superfan' dies after collapsing at Games

A British "Olympic superfan" who had tickets for every day of the London Games died after collapsing at the Velodrome at the Olympic Park, media reports said.
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/ Source: NBC News and news services

A British "Olympic superfan" who had tickets for every day of the London Games died after collapsing at the Velodrome at the Olympic Park, media reports said.

Conrad Readman, 49, had gone to watch British cyclist Victoria Pendleton and the men's team pursuit win gold last Friday, when he collapsed of a "massive heart attack," his mother Joan Readman told BBC News.

News of his death only emerged on Tuesday.

The accountant had booked two weeks off work and had attended virtually every sport, as well as the opening ceremony, British media reported.

He reportedly had watched rowing, tennis, cycling, handball, fencing, swimming, diving, weightlifting, water polo, beach volleyball, hockey, rowing, archery, soccer, canoeing, weight-lifting and badminton.

"Love the snap of wills n kate celebrating gb gold win -- the joy the whole nation feels," one of Readman's last messages on Twitter said, referring to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrating a British victory.

'Olympic superfan'
The Guardian newspaper said Readman had earned the nickname "Olympic superfan."

Readman had managed to secure so many tickets by purchasing them online through foreign vendors, his mother told the BBC.

Readman lived with his mother, a widow, in Essex, east of London.

London 2012 is proving to be the country's most successful Olympic Games in terms of medals won.

"He had been looking forward to the Olympics ever since it was announced. There was never a day he was not excited about it," his mother told her local newspaper, the Daily Gazette.

"He was coming home every night so excited and telling me about everything he had done," she told the paper.

Police told her that her son had suffered a heart attack, she told the Gazette.

"He had never had a problem with his heart and had not been to a doctor in 15 years," she said.

"He died doing something he loved so I am happy he was where he was, but I can’t watch any of it now. I had it on all day, but I can't bear it now," the paper quoted her as saying.

'He will be sorely missed'
A spokesman for the London organizing committee, said in a statement to Reuters: "We can confirm a man collapsed at one of our venues last Friday and sadly died later in hospital.

"He was clearly a huge Olympics fan and our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time."

Tim Peyton, Conrad Readman’s employer and friend, was quoted in the Gazette as saying: "I have worked with him since 1982 and am shocked. He was a lynchpin for us. Clients and staff liked him. He will be sorely missed."