Former French international Ludovic Vaty (34) was plunged into a coma after a heart attack on Tuesday during training with his Toulouse club in N2. Called nine times with the Blues, the Guadeloupe pivot was in the running to compete in Euro 2013 when a cardiac pathology – cardiomyopathy, detachment of a membrane of the heart which can lead to a risk of sudden death in the event of intense effort – had been detected, leading to the end of his professional career.
Vaty had continued to play in the lower divisions, between National 1 (D3) and National 3 (D5). Since September 2021, the pivot has been playing in Toulouse with the TOAC (Toulouse Olympique Aerospatiale Club). Champion of N3 in his first season, he had found the public of Bercy the same year during the final of the Coupe de France trophy.
Youth Gold Medalist
Trained at the hopeful pole of Guadeloupe, then at the federal center (Insep), Vaty was one of the most promising interiors of French basketball. A spearhead of the 1988-1989 generation (Nicolas Batum, Antoine Diot, Alexis Ajinça, Edwin Jackson…), European gold medalists in the U16s (2004) and U18s (2006) before winning a historic bronze at the U19 World Cup in 2007.
Passed by Pau-Orthez, Orléans and Gravelines, he came out of a prosperous 2012-2013 season with a Leaders Cup title with the BCM, doubled with the MVP trophy, when cardiomyopathy had forced him to stop his professional career, a few months after the death of former international Thierry Rupert following a heart problem.
