Australian media reports said that the man who died today while spearfishing off a beach in Gold Coast, eastern Australia, is the Olympic snowboarding star, Alex Pauline.
Pauline, 32, participated in three versions of the Winter Olympics, the first of which was in 2010, and he was the Australian flag bearer at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. Pauline was crowned twice as world champion in snowboarding, in 2011 and 2013. Queensland state police said a man was swimming at the artificial reef off Palm Beach, and is believed to have lost consciousness while in the water.
A police official told reporters at the beach that a diver had found the man lying on the ocean floor, and the diver had asked for help. A Queensland ambulance official explained that the paramedics came to the site of the complaint, and made every effort, but they were unable to revive it.
Queensland police reported that in the mid-thirties, the man "who started enjoying high physical fitness" was practicing spearfishing and snorkeling without an oxygen mask, noting that there was no criminal suspicion in his death.