Pele, smiling and joking with reporters, said he was in fine shape after spending the night in intensive care and hoped to travel to Japan soon to cheer on Brazil in the World Cup. Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player in soccer history, was taken to the Heart Hospital in Sao Paulo on Monday night after suffering an allergic reaction to iodine he had taken before an x-ray as part of a routine medical check-up.
"For all my friends and all of those who worried, I am fine, and God willing I'll be travelling to Japan the day after tomorrow," Pele said at a news conference at the hospital, which specialises in cardiac care. Pele, 61, had been moved out of intensive care to a normal room on Tuesday. "After an x-ray examination he suffered an allergic reaction, which is unforeseeable but can be corrected in most cases," the hospital said in a statement. "To attend to this, the patient was taken into intensive care and all measures were taken."
Pele said he had never before suffered an allergic reaction to iodine and joked that it was good news that he was a man of "three hearts", referring to the meaning of his hometown's name, 'Tres Coracoes'. The hospital did not say when Pele, who was Brazil's Minister of Sport for four years in the 1990s, would be able to go home.
Pele was Brazil's leading light in three triumphant World Cup campaigns, although he missed the 1962 final through injury. He made the last of his 115 international appearances in 1971 and retired from the game in 1977 after a 21-year career which included 1,285 goals in 1,364 games.
Filed by Sinéad Gleeson
