Meskerem Legesse Dead: Pregnant Former Olympian Dies, Baby Saved In Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A former
Olympic and professional runner
from Ethiopia who was due to give
birth in three weeks collapsed at a
restaurant and died, but doctors
saved her baby, her friends said
Wednesday.

Meskerem Legesse, 26, who lived in
Westport, was with her 2-year-old
son when she collapsed at a Chinese
restaurant in Hamden on Monday,
said her friend Fatima Sene. She
was transported to a hospital,
where she died and the baby was
saved, Sene said.The cause of death
was unclear. Sene said Legesse had
suffered heart problems in the
past.

"It is very sad. She was a very good
person," Sene said. "She would do
anything for anybody. And she
loved that little boy she left
behind."
Legesse ran in the 1,500-meter
competition at the Athens Olympics
in 2004. She finished 12th in a first-
round heat with a time of 4:18:03
and didn't advance to the medal
race. She moved on to a
professional running career in the
U.S., competing in events including
the Boston Indoor Games, Fifth
Avenue Mile in Manhattan and the
Millrose Games in New York. She
apparently hadn't raced within the
past few years.

Legesse's children are now with
their father, and arrangements are
being made to take Legesse's body
to Ethiopia, Sene said. Legesse was
planning to get married to the
children's father, she said.
Legesse's death was first reported
by Hartford-area CBS affiliate
WFSB-TV, which obtained
surveillance video from the
restaurant showing Legesse
entering with her son, sitting down
in a chair and collapsing to the floor
within seconds. Legesse had
ordered takeout and was picking it
up, said Sene's sister, Fatima Cisse,
another friend of Legesse.
Legesse knew the two sisters from a
hair salon down the street from the
Chinese restaurant, they said.
Hamden firefighters and
paramedics with American Medical
Response were called to the
restaurant at about 2 p.m. Monday
and performed CPR on a pregnant
woman who collapsed, according to
fire and police officials who did not
release the woman's name.
Doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital
were able to save the baby because
of the CPR efforts both in the
restaurant and in the ambulance on
the way to the hospital, Hamden
Fire Chief David Berardesca said.

A spokeswoman for the state
medical examiner's office said the
agency declined to perform an
autopsy, citing Legesse's past health
problems. She declined to
elaborate.
A Yale-New Haven Hospital
spokesman on Wednesday said he
had no information about Legesse
being brought there Monday.