Some folks return from worlds with pulled muscles, aching joints. About 10 days after returning to Canada from Riccione, where he won five M85 gold medals in the throws, Garry Bachman had a heart attack. He seems fine now, according to an article in his local newspaper. “The fellow athletes blamed it on all the Italian women,” Garry told writer Shawn Cayley of the Durham Region News north of Lake Ontario. Garry, who holds the M80 world record in the weight throw, won the shot by more than 3 feet, the discus by almost 5 meters, the weight throw by more than 5 meters and the weight pentathlon by nearly 2,000 points. Whew!

Here’s the story, in case the link goes south:

Demons drive Bachman to succeedSun Feb 03, 2008
By Shawn Cayley
NEWCASTLE — When athletes speak of the demons that drive them, it’s not generally a good thing.
But in the case of Newcastle resident Garry Bachman, it couldn’t be considered anything less.
You see in his mind, that’s the easiest way to describe the recent success that seen him honoured with the Ontario Masters’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year award, which came on the heels of his winning five gold medals and a bronze at the World Masters Championships in Italy last fall.
“I’ve said it to many people before, people like me are driven by demons,” says the long time athlete. “It isn’t a case of we want to do something or attain something. We just have to do it period.
“We just have no choice,” he adds in explaining why he remains active.
And at the age of 86, remaining active is a feat in itself. But doing so as a world class athlete is simply astonishing.
Bachman landed in Italy last September, foot injury and all, with hopes of returning from the world championships with a little hardware in tow.
He certainly met those expectations, and then some, by winning gold in the shot put, discus, hammer throw, weight throw and pentathlon (highest combined score in five events) as well as a bronze in the javelin.
Looking back, Bachman, who competed in the M-85 age division, had a hard time attempting to explain the personal significance of his accomplishments.
“I don’t know how to really express it in words,” he says, before engaging in a long pause. “I guess you could say pride that a Canadian achieved all that would be one of the main things I felt. You hear your name, and everybody is clapping. It really gives you a rush.”
And apparently it gave him a little too much of a rush.
Some 10 days after returning home from Italy, Bachman suffered a heart attack, which he has since recovered from.
“The fellow athletes blamed it on all the Italian women,” he says with a laugh when asked about the health issue.
As far as Bachman is concerned, despite another “minor” procedure done on Thursday, the health problems are in the past and he is looking forward to getting back out to compete.
Of course, the winter weather makes that a little difficult to get back into his field sports. However, the three time winner of the Latvian trophy and six time recipient of the Throwers Club trophy makes the best of it by lacing up the skates at the South Courtice Arena.
“I love it. The ice there is just great,” says Bachman, the former Winnipeg resident. “It’s those demons again. I just have to have something to do.”