Momo's Last Moments

Porter Cottrell does CPR - Graphic Content

Top IFBB pro Mohammed Benaziza died on October 4th 1992 in Den Haag, Holland. His passing was, and still is, the most dramatic and high profile death in bodybuilding; occurring as it did just hours after he had won the Dutch Grand Prix. Momo (as he was called) died due to a heart attack caused by severe hydration triggered by diuretic use. He was 33 years old.

The Dutch contest was the last leg of that year’s post-Olympia European tour and Porter Cottrell was one of the travelling stars. Porter was a full-time firefighter and licensed emergency medical technician, and because of those skills the duo of Momo and Porter were destined to be center stage as the tour reached its tragic climax.

THE END OF THE TOUR

This is Porter’s graphic account of Momo’s final hours, which he related to me a week after the tragedy.

At the Dutch Grand Prix prejudging Momo left the stage several times. When we started doing our posing routines, Momo was leaning up against the wall and started puking profusely. It wasn't like he just bent over and puked. He was projectile vomiting the stuff; it was shooting to three feet in front of him. It was like a scene from The Exorcist. I jumped back and said to Ron Love, shit man, he's sick. Momo’s girlfriend said something to the effect that he had eaten some dates. Momo then worked walked over to the bathroom and continued to puke.

The post-contest banquet was held at the same venue (as the contest). My understanding is that Momo had to be helped to walk to the banquet. We started to leave for our hotel about 11.00pm and I was in the same van as Momo. I was in the front with the driver, Thierry Pastel, his wife and another friend where in the second row. Momo and his girlfriend were in the back seat of the van. It was about a 90-minute drive to the hotel and during this period Momo filled three plastic bags with puke, which were thrown out the window.

At one point we stopped at a service station to get Momo some spring water. He was probably trying to get his electrolytes up since they had been depleted from so much puking. At that moment however, I still thought he was ill from food poisoning.

When we arrived at the hotel Thierry and his friend and I helped Momo into the building. He was walking, but needed assistance getting inside -- he was kind of leaning on us. He was starting to shake profusely, to the point where he was really struggling with walking on his own. We sat him down on a chair and he asked for some water and some powdered electrolyte. But he kept puking up into a bucket that was right next to him.

At this point, a doctor was called. Thierry and I literally carried Momo to his room – he was like deadweight at this point. I remember holding him and his whole body was shaking. His hands and legs were very clammy. It was almost as if he was a paraplegic at this point. We laid him down on the bed. Momo sighed and said, “I am fine now.”

THE FINAL HOURS

This was about 12.30am and as I believed that a doctor was on his way I wasn’t worried: I thought Momo was going to be fine. At about 4.30am Steve Brisbois started pounding on my door yelling, “Porter come quick, Momo’s sick!”

Momo’s room was two doors away and I found Momo being pulled off the bed by his girlfriend, Thierry and Alq Gurley. Things started getting a bit panicky at this point. I looked at my Momo and saw that he was in full cardiac arrest. The doctor was there and we started doing CPR together – the doctor breathing into his mouth and I doing chest compressions. After about three or four minutes of compressions Momo started to puke, and so every few minutes we had to clean his mouth out from the puke so to prevent him from swallowing his tongue.

After 20 minutes I knew Momo was not going to make it, but I just couldn’t give up. Clear liquids kept running continuously out of his nose and this was a sign that his lungs were completely full of liquid. We decided to tell everyone, apart from myself and the doctor, to leave the room, At this point Momo’s girlfriend was almost hysterical.

I recall thinking that because Momo was so thickly muscled that perhaps my compressions weren't forceful or deep enough. But when paramedics arrived and connected him to a heart monitor, I could see my compressions were perfect. We continued to do CPR and noticed that he was getting cold very quickly. The monitor showed a flatline not even a flicker – and only time it registered was when I did a compression. It took the paramedics about 15 minutes to get Momo downstairs. We did CPR for about 40 to 45 minutes, which is a very long time – but I knew after 20 minutes it was a lost cause. The paramedics took Momo to the hospital – his girlfriend went with him.

About 25 minutes later the phone rang. It was a policeman who asked if he could come to my room. He told me that Momo had passed away and I had to go out and tell everyone. So I gathered everyone together and I was trying to keep my cool, but I could barely talk because I wanted to break out into tears.

I told them that Momo had passed away. We got together and went to the hospital. Wayne DeMilia, Art Bedway and I took the doctor aside and asked if we could see Momo and pay our last respects. They had Momo in a secluded room and a number of us went in. Besides me, there was Juliette Bergmann, Wayne DeMilia, Art Bedway, Thierry and his wife, Henderson Thorne and Steve Brisbois. Usually when someone dies they go completely limp but Momo’s eyes, mouth and fingers were still open. It was like even though he was dead he couldn’t relax.

ODE TO MOMO

Momo’s mentality was that he took everything to the extreme. Later on we found so much stuff he had been using on the tour. It was scary, Nubain was one of the substances.

(Porter’s became emotional as he spoke the next words). I am used to doing CPR but not on my friends. It was hard, it was weird. At this point [October 1992] it really hasn't sunk in. I can be sitting here, thinking about nothing in particular, when I suddenly find myself thinking about Momo. What makes me real sad is how much he must have suffered. Momo was trying to fulfill a dream but he took it too far.

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