Danny Kassap, the Toronto-based marathon runner who became a cause celebre in the athletic community after leaving the Democratic Republic of Congo and seeking status as a political refugee, remains in a Berlin hospital, recovering from a heart arrhythmia that caused him to collapse in last Sunday's Berlin Marathon.
Kassap, 28, one of the top marathon performers in Canada over the past five seasons, collapsed five kilometres into Sunday's race, in which Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie set a blistering pace for a world record (2 hours 3 minutes 59 seconds). Canadian sources confirmed Kassap's situation but declined further comment "at the request of his family."
The running website mynextrace.com said Kassap had suffered a ventricular fibrillation and doctors had induced a coma as part of the first treatments to get Kassap's heartbeat controlled and stable. His wife flew to Germany to see him, the site said.
Kassap had shown no previous symptoms of a heart problem. He could return home within a few days, a source close to the runner said.
He was competing in his second major overseas marathon of 2008, following a solid 2:15 performance this past spring at London.
He'd received his Canadian citizenship this summer, too late to represent Canada at the Beijing Olympic Games. Previous attempts to expedite his citizenship request, since coming to Canada for the 2001 Francophone Games, had failed.
Kassap's history and quest to run for Canada was famous in Canadian running circles. In 2001, he chose to quit the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his mother had been a political activist. Kassap's family was not popular with the government, and one day, the house was entered by a group of soldiers and security toughs who bound and beat Kassap and took away his father, according to the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon's website.
Kassap fled his hometown and found refuge with the national athletics coach, and hid out in the stadium where he had previously raced and trained. The coach got a berth for Kassap on the Francophone Games team and that got him out of the country.
With no ability to speak English and no money, Kassap at first lived in Toronto's Covenant House shelter for street youth. A slight 5-foot-9 and 127 pounds, he was essentially adopted by the University of Toronto Track Club. He worked at a local fish and chip shop to make ends meet and ran small events, making prize money in a few, and always holding out hope he could represent Canada one day.
Kassap broke through with a win at the 2004 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, establishing a personal best 2:14:50 and beating a top field in his marathon debut. A workhorse grateful of the $12,000 payday, he then ran 2:17 only three weeks later to claim second place at the Toronto Marathon, and amazingly, just seven days later, Kassap placed third in 1:04 at the Niagara Half-Marathon.
In 2008, he has captured first place at the Mississauga Half-Marathon, the HBC Run for Canada 10-kilometre race, and second place at the Nissan 10-miler.
