The world's tiniest bodybuilder died on Thursday at just 23.
Adida "Romeo" Dev, a 2-foot-9 strongman from Punjab, India, suffered a brain aneurism and died at a hospital in his home city after doctors were unable to revive him.
Family members said the mighty little man was fine before he collapsed.
"He was absolutely fine until last night when he suddenly fell unconscious," his father, Anil Dev Sharma, 53, told local reporters, according to ABC News. "We rushed him to the hospital and he fell into a coma, he was unconscious all night. Doctors said the nerve supplying blood to his brain had ruptured, causing his death."
Dev was diagnosed with brain aneurysms several years ago, a common ailment for dwarves.
His family was too poor to pay for proper treatment, and Sharma said they cherished their time with Dev, always aware that he didn't have long to live.
"It's a huge loss for our family, we will be grieving his death for the rest of our life," Sharma said, according to ABC News.
"We were told by doctors many years ago that he may die at an early age. All these years we prayed for his long life."
In an interview with "Good Morning America" in 2009, Dev said watching professional wrestling as a child inspirited him to start pumping iron.
"From the very beginning I liked lifting the dumbbells and lifting weights," he said then.
Though he weighed just 19 pounds, Dev worked out with custom 3-pound weights and was capable of hoisting 10 pounds, more than half his weight.
During a trip to New York for "Good Morning America," the baseball-bat beefcake wowed onlookers at a Manhattan Crunch gym with his 20-inch chest and impressive stamina.
In 2006, the Guinness World Records deemed him the world's smallest body builder.
"We never thought this day would come so soon," his pal and lifting partner, Maninder Singh, 19, told London's The Sun.
"His small bat, his bikes and his bedroom at his home are only memories of him now.'
Dev was to be cremated in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Punjab on Friday.
With News Wire Services
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