Event cancelled in wake of Crippen's death
Swimming officials in the United Arab Emirates have cancelled an upcoming open water event following the death of US national swim team member Fran Crippen in a race at the same location.
The 26-year-old swimmer died on Saturday while competing in the FINA Open Water 10-kilometre World Cup at Fujairah, south of Dubai. He failed to finish and was found in the water two hours later, organisers said.
The FINA 15km Open Water Swimming Grand Prix was scheduled to be held October 27 at the same location, but the UAE Swimming Association on Sunday canceled it due to Crippen's death.
Swimmers on Saturday complained of warmer than usual conditions and Fujairah police have opened an inquiry into Crippen's death.
Swimmers were the first to respond when Crippen failed to arrive at the finish. Several returned to the water to search for him and were soon followed by police and coast guard divers. Crippen's body was found just before the last buoy on the 2-kilometre triangular course, race organizers said.
He was rushed to shore and transported to Fujairah Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
FINA President Julio Maglione of Uruguay said he was told that after eight kilometers Crippen told his coach that he wasn't feeling well.
"He continued and he was found in the deep of the water," Maglione said from Acapulco, Mexico, where he was attending Olympic meetings.
Even before the 15km event was cancelled, swimmers were already expressing concerns about swimming again at the same location.
"We were not staying back for Wednesday's race anyway," said Ana Marcela Cunha, the overall champion in the women's competition.
Competitors all described the conditions as unusually hot, but expressed shock that Crippen had died during the race.
"I can't even imagine how this could have happened to Fran," Crippen's teammate Alexander Meyer said.
Crippen was the silver medalist in the 10k at the Pan Pacific championships in August, earned a bronze medal in the 10k at the 2009 world championships, was national champion in the 5k in 2009, and won a gold medal in the 10K at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Crippen's former swimming coach at Germantown Academy, Richard Shoulberg, said Crippen called him from Dubai recently, and talked about the Philadelphia Phillies' playoff run and his plans to visit Italy with his girlfriend. Crippen also told him the water was 87 degrees (30.5 degrees Celsius) and the air temperature was around 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius), Shoulberg said.
But he also said Crippen had swum in water as cool as 62 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). "That's the nature of the sport, and he knew that," Shoulberg said.
Crippen finished fourth in the 10k and fifth in the 5k at this year's world championships. He competed in the 2004 US Olympic trials.
On his Facebook page, he posted on Thursday that he was "in Dubai for the final World Cup of the season and then off to Italy for vacation!"
The page now has many messages of condolence from friends and fellow swimmers.
"Fran you will be missed you were the best of the best," said 2000 Olympic silver medalist Kristy Kowal.