‘It was like a sledgehammer shattering my family into a million pieces’: Gabby Logan discusses the ‘cataclysmic’ impact of her brother’s death after he passed away suddenly aged 15
- The sports presenter, 47, said her family was ‘shattered into a million pieces’ after Daniel Yorath keeled over and died while playing football with their dad
- Daniel collapsed and died on 25 May 1992, at the age of 15, as a result of a heart condition just before he was due to begin a football career with Leeds United
- Speaking on The Game Changers podcast, she said: ‘He died of a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is sudden death effectively;
Gabby Logan has spoken out about the ‘cataclysmic’ long lasting impact of her brother’s sudden death when he was just 15.
The sports presenter, 47, said her family was ‘shattered into a million pieces’ after Daniel Yorath keeled over and died while playing football with their dad.
She said the traumatic incident ‘defined her youth’ and affected the way her family lived the rest of their lives.
Pained: Gabby Logan has spoken out about the ‘cataclysmic’ long lasting impact of her brother’s sudden death when he was just 15 (Gabby, pictured in September)
Speaking on The Game Changers podcast, she said: ‘He died of a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is sudden death effectively.
‘We had no warning. He had a congenital heart defect which meant that from the outside and ostensibly his fitness was just beyond you know. He was in the top 0.00 per cent.
‘He was a footballer who signed for Leeds United and could run all day long played sport all the time.’
Daniel collapsed and died on 25 May 1992 in his garden, at the age of 15, as a result of an undetected heart condition just before he was due to begin a footballing career with Leeds United.
Tragedy: Gabby pictured with Daniel and her sister Louise
Family: Gabby’s father Terry Yorath played for Coventry City
He had been playing with his dad, Welsh footballer and manager Terry Yorath at the time, and Logan said her mother, Christine, struggled to deal with her son’s death.
Logan, who herself was a successful gymnast, continued: ‘[Daniel’s] heart was enlarged and basically was about to give way and pack up on him but there were no signs at all.
‘He was never breathless. When he did die, he died in the garden playing football with my dad.
‘He was just kicking the ball about and keeled over.
‘It was absolutely cataclysmic. It was like a sledgehammer coming down and shattering the family into a million pieces.’
Logan now has two children of her own and presents a host of sports programmes for the BBC as well as Sports Personality of the Year.
She said that even now almost 28 years later she and her family are still coming to terms with the ‘ramifications’ of Daniel’s tragic death.
She continued: ‘Even if someone dies suddenly at 78 it feels young but they are 78 when a child dies so young obviously there is such a fallout among the whole family.
‘It defined the rest of our youth and has defined how the family has gone on from those years and it leaves its mark in many ways.
‘It was a really hard time for everybody and to this day the ramifications are still there.’
Heartache: The sports presenter, 47, said her family was ‘shattered into a million pieces’ after Daniel Yorath keeled over and died while playing football with their dad (Gabby, pictured last week)