Dallas McCarver Collapses at Arnold Australia

Dallas McCarver, a favorite going into the Arnold Classic Australia, collapsed on stage during pre-judging this past weekend. Dallas competed at the New Zealand Pro last weekend where he placed second to Brandon Curry, an incredible athlete who nailed his conditioning again in Australia. Brandon has racked up two back-to-back wins in the 2017 season. But the story of the weekend was Dallas' health...

Below you can read what both Dallas and his coach Chad Nichols had to say about the incident happened last night, and what the plans for the future are.

According to his coach Chad Nicholls' Facebook page:

Dallas McCarver - Just wanted to give everyone an update on him - because I know the internet is "buzzing" - so giving you the REAL update: just got off the phone with him and he's feeling much better - but still feeling very run down. Most people don't know and we didn't make it public because we didn't want to make "excuses" - but he's been fighting a pretty rough upper respiratory infection since before the Arnold (Columbus). It didn't really affect us in Columbus, but the travel, extended dieting, depleted state of the body took it's toll. I know nutritionists always love to take credit for things when they go right - but I'm taking full responsibility for things going wrong here.Dallas McCarver has a "Never Quit" attitude, but I should have pulled the plug in New Zealand and definitely should have pulled the plug for today. This morning he labored to expand his lungs and take a full breath without having a coughing fit and was limited in what he could do. But, when we talked midday - he said he was feeling great - so we made the decision to go ahead and go to the show. That was a bad call on my part and I'll have to deal with that. The good news is that Dallas is feeling much better now - but we both agreed it's time to call it a day and look at another battle down the road - just not worth his health. I've got to tell you - I've never seen a kid fight and want to compete like this kid. He's something special and the industry needs to recognize that! But today - we are more concerned about getting him rested and fully recuperated.

Dallas himself had the following to say about the incident:

I just want to take a moment and say thank you to each and every person who's sent me a positive message, comment, post, text, or even approached me with support and positivity in person! It makes me so happy to see all of the love and support within our industry. I see now more than ever we truly are a family and for the most part in this together! Minus a select bitter few that try to ruin it for us all with their insecurities and need to push down others in order to make themselves feel relevant or superior in some twisted weird way. We all have nothing but respect for the work and pain every competitor goes through for this "sport" or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. It's been a tough few weeks for me, I've made a lot of mistakes this year/ prep and I'm continuing to learn from them, but I'm a firm believer that there is always a larger plan we don't see. So while it may hurt now, I can't help but believe I'll laugh at all of this in the years to come. Again THANK YOU ALL AND GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!