BMX Icon Who Killed Himself had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

The 41-year-old BMX icon who killed himself in February was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a University of Toronto doctor.

Dave Mirra was an American BMX rider who later competed in rallycross racing. Mirra held the record for most X Games medals until being passed by Bob Burnquist in 2013, and medalled in every X Games from when they started in 1995 up to 2009.

As a BMX rider, he was known primarily as a vert ramp and park rider. He had also competed for several years with the Subaru Rally Team USA as a rallycross driver. He rode and was sponsored by Haro Bikes from the mid-1990s until starting his own bike company. Mirra was a member of the team that won the 2014 Race Across America four-person male (under 50) category. Mirra committed suicide on February 4th, 2016.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head.

A University of Toronto doctor concluded that Mirra suffered from the ailment and several other neuropathologists confirmed the diagnosis, according to ESPN.

“Mirra is the first BMX rider to be diagnosed with CTE, a disease tied to repeated brain trauma and associated with symptoms such as memory loss, depression and progressive dementia. Mirra was found dead in Greenville, South Carolina from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” an article by The Guardian reads. “Although there is no definitive evidence CTE contributed to the X Games legend’s death, the issue is becoming a concern for many professional riders.”

According to the article, the tau protein deposits found in Mirra’s brain were indistinguishable from the kind that have been found in the brains of former football and hockey players with CTE, Dr Lili-Naz Hazrati, the Toronto neuropathologist, told ESPN The Magazine.

“I couldn’t tell the difference,” she said. “The trauma itself defines the disease, not how you got the trauma. It’s assumed it is related to multiple concussions that happened years before.”

Mirra, a BMX legend who won numerous X Games gold medals, fractured his skull when a car hit him at age 19, and he tried boxing after his retirement from BMX. But he also endured countless concussions during a glittering career. Many in BMX have shared their concerns over the effects of the concussions most riders have sustained at some point in their career.

Hazrati shared her findings on Mirra’s brain with additional US and Canadian neuropathologists. Each confirmed Hazrati’s diagnosis of CTE.

“It validates what we have been thinking about brain injuries in boxers and football players,” Hazrati said. “The key is brain injury. Regardless of how you get it, through BMX or hockey, you are at risk for this.”