Sports cardiology: lessons from the past and perspectives for the future

The possibility of myocardial damage as a result of endurance sport has been known about since ancient times. According to a leg­end, a soldier named Pheidippides (more likely Philippides) dropped dead after run­ning from war-torn Marathon to Athens with the news of victory. Millennia later, we do not know whether he was a soldier or a courier, or whether he really ran the entire 240 km from Athens to Sparta and then back from Marathon to Athens. What is clear however, is that his death went down in history as the first documented exercise-related death and provides a tangible starting-point for the discipline of sport cardiology. Sports cardiology today covers a broad range of areas; from patients with cardiomyopathies, coronary disease and metabolic syndrome through to fitness fans, high-performance athletes and those with physically demanding professions. The following editorial introduces the primary topics for discussion to be included in the F1000Research channel Sports cardiology with the hope that this will evoke open, controversial and broad discourse in the form of reviews and original research papers in this important field.