Australian snowboarder Alex Pullin dies

Media reported on Wednesday that Alex Pullin had been found unresponsive on the sea floor off Australia's Gold Coast. The 32-year-old was declared dead after lifeguards and paramedics unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate him, Australian press reported.

"He didn't have an oxygen mask," Gold Coast Police District duty officer Chris Tritton told the Australian broadcaster Channel Nine. "We understand he was free diving and spearfishing out on the reef."

"It appears he was diving alone," Tritton said. "There were other divers out there, but he was not with a friend."

The Brisbane newspaper The Courier-Mail reported that Pullin was thought to have "suffered a shallow-water blackout."

In addition to winning world championship titles in snowboard cross in 2011 and 2013, Pullin competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and was Australia's flag bearer at the 2014 Games in Sochi. His best Olympic result came two years ago in Pyeongchang, where he placed sixth.

"It is an incredibly sad day," Geoff Lipshut, the chief executive of the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, told the Reuters news agency. "Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin was one of our great winter sports pioneers... He attacked every day with intensity and purpose," he added. 

Lipshut also said that Pullin had recently decided to retire from the sport but had yet to announce it. 

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