Jenny Simpson, a three-time US Olympian and one of the most decorated 1500m runners in American history, gives her first extended public account of collapsing at a community mile race in North Carolina on 16 June and going into sudden cardiac arrest. Simpson says she has no memory of the day, but recounts what she has been told by witnesses and medical staff: she lost her pulse, received prolonged CPR and multiple defibrillator shocks, suffered further cardiac arrests en route to hospital, and was later airlifted to Duke for intensive care.
She says she was diagnosed afterwards with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), which she describes as a rare inherited disease affecting the heart’s electrical system. Simpson argues that running did not cause the condition but may have revealed it. She also discusses uncertainty around screening: she says her genetic testing, and her parents’ testing, did not identify a known ARVC marker.
Simpson and host Rich Roll focus on emergency preparedness and fear as a barrier to bystander intervention, using her survival as an example of CPR and AED effectiveness. Simpson describes the psychological aftermath, including a dark, violent near-death experience and the disorientation of being heavily sedated in ICU. She says her doctors are monitoring her heart over time, but that it is unlikely she will be able to return to running because raising her heart rate may increase arrhythmia risk.
The episode also touches on identity after elite sport, faith and surrender, and Simpson’s intention to channel the experience into public education and community service.
Jenny Simpson says bystanders at a race recognised she was in cardiac arrest and began chest compressions. She says Fleet Feet executive Joey Pointer retrieved a portable AED kept for his son’s track team, and that CPR and the AED saved her life.
Read this moment →Jenny Simpson recalls being defibrillated several times and receiving CPR for more than 20 minutes after collapsing at a track. She says she was shocked again in the ambulance, arrested again at hospital, and was later airlifted to Duke for specialist care.
Read this moment →Jenny Simpson says doctors diagnosed her with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) following her cardiac arrest. She describes it as a rare inherited disease that progresses over time and says she did not know she had it beforehand.
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