Fujairah: The world governing body for swimming, Fina, has ordered an investigation into the death of American swimmer Francis Crippen during the eighth and final round of the 2010 Fina 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup on Saturday.
Fina President Julio Maglione said on Sunday that that Fina has opened an investigation into the cause of Crippen's death. "It was an accident, a terrible accident," Maglione said, adding that organisers of the event in the UAE had adhered to safety regulations.
A report on the cause of the death is expected on Monday.
Maglione said he was informed that Crippen had informed his coach after eight kilometres of the swim that he wasn’t feeling well. "He continued and he was found in the deep of the water two hours later," Maglione said.
The swimming fraternity responded with shock and disbelief at Crippen's death.
“I can’t even imagine how this could have happened to Fran,” Crippen’s teammate Alexander Meyer told Gulf News as he came out of the water following an extensive search for the swimmer.
“It is far too bizarre to think that such a thing could have happened,” blurted Bulgarian veteran Petar Stoychev, a regular at the UAE event.
Radio 2: Audio from the fatality at the FINA 10km race
Audio supplied by 99.3 106 Radio 2
Crippen’s absence was realized only after all the swimmers had completed the five laps of two kilometers each off the Fujairah International Marine Club (FIMC) just past noon on Saturday.
Led by Stoychev, the most instant reaction came from the swimmers themselves when they went back into the water in an attempt to search for the American swimmer.
Following a search of more than two hours, police and coast guard divers found Crippen just before the final buoy on the 2km-long course.
Going into the final round of this eight-round competition that goes around the globe, South African Chad Ho was at the top of the overall standings with 112 points. Crippen was second with 94 points, while Brazilian Allan do Carmo was third overall with 60.
Relieved after his sixth place finish to win the overall crown, Ho in fact mentioned that he had not sighted the American in the water during the later stages of the race. It was then that it came to light that Crippen had never managed to cross the finish line, thus prompting the extensive search.
Just after 2 pm, a lifeless Crippen was brought out of the water and rushed to a waiting ambulance to be taken to the Fujairah Hospital even as police tried in vain to stop swimmers and friends from getting too close. Some were seen crying openly while others were hugging and consoling each other.
Thomas Lurz, who won the eighth round on Saturday, was dumb-founded. “I feel very sad,” the German swimmer said.
Crippen’s American teammate and close friend Alexander Meyer – who in fact did not participate in yesterday’s event due to an abdominal surgery last week – was all over the place urging the swimmers to get back into the water to see if Crippen could be found.
“This is not happening man,” Meyer said with tears in his eyes.
After Crippen was found Meyer went running towards the ambulance to have a look at his friend, only to be stopped in his tracks by police and officials. The American quietly walked back and sat by the roadside with his head in his hands nodding in disbelief.
Ayman Saad, Organising Director from the UAE Swimming Association confirmed the sad news later in the evening. “At the moment we are trying to complete the formalities with the police and medical staff to repatriate the body back to the United States,” Saad said.
“This is a sad moment and we do not want to go into the details till the medical report is put forward,” the official added.
Meanwhile, all other activities related to the event were called off as a mark of respect to the departed swimmer.
The organizers also announced that they would be holding a press conference later last night to explain the unfortunate incident to the media and participants
