Swimmer dies in triathlon at Mead

Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 10 a.m.

A 37-year-old Las Vegas restaurant owner swimming in the Mountain Man Triathlon on Sunday died after he apparently suffered seizures, the National Park Service said.

It was the first time in the history of the seven-year Mountain Man Triathlon that anyone has died, Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said.

Park Service rangers received a call about 7:35 a.m. on Sunday that Artem Boris Groisman was having "seizure-like activity" as he swam in the waters off Boulder Beach at Lake Mead, Dey said.

Two swimmers who had medical training and had been hired to help at the triathlon were able to put Groisman in a boat and take him to shore.

The paramedics and Park Service rangers performed CPR for at least 40 minutes, Dey said. A doctor at Valley Hospital Medical Center recommended discontinuing attempts to revive Groisman after that time, Dey said.

A representative of the coroner's office arrived shortly after 9:30 a.m. and pronounced Groisman dead, Dey said.

Groisman owned the Eliseevsky restaurant, which serves Russian food that won an award in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's annual reader choice awards in 2004.

"Everybody loved him -- he united the Russian community," said Anna Zarianova, who called herself a friend of Groisman, adding that his restaurant was popular with Russians in Las Vegas.

Groisman moved to Las Vegas in 1994. He was reportedly born in Siberia and moved to Moscow when he was 7-years-old. Groisman became a triathlete in Russia, a 2002 Sun story said.

Dey said the exact cause of death is still unknown.

The Clark County Coroner's office also did not have an exact cause of death yet this morning.

Roughly 600 people were involved in the running, swimming and bicycling event held in and around Lake Mead.