Full story:
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../25369.asp
Excerpt:
Passages: Fran Crippen, 26 - FINA, USA Swimming Release Statements -- October 23, 2010
FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates, October 23. SHORTLY after the FINA Open Water 10K World Cup swim today in the UAE, United States swimmer Fran Crippen, 26, passed away after falling unconscious during the race.
With the water in the mid-to-high 80s, the competitors all finished and noticed that Crippen had not crossed the finish line. Meet management brought in deep sea divers, who found Crippen unconscious just before the final buoy nearly two hours later. He was transported to the Fujairah Hospital and later died according to information provided to Swimming World. Conflicting reports state that he was found dead on the course.
Crippen had shown signs of slowing down during the third lap of the five-lap race. When Crippen did not immediately finish, a fact noticed by teammate Alex Meyer who screamed for help, the competing swimmers rushed back into the water to help with the search.
Information provided to Swimming World demonstrates that the water was likely too hot for the event as several swimmers were treated for heat exhaustion after the race....
i wonder if he's confused with scuba divers perhaps? according to my father (who is a certified dive master), the typical sign for a diver in distress on the surface is putting their mask on their forehead or top of their head (if there's nothing wrong, they'll put their mask around their neck)...
i'm not an open water swimmer, but i've been to quite a few swims as a spectator (and heard my fair share of pre-race briefings) and i've never heard about removing goggles if in distress.
From this article:
"Saad said Crippen's body was found with swimming goggles in place, suggesting he went down in "one second" in the World Cup event. He said that open-water swimmers normally remove their goggles immediately when are fatigued or in trouble."
Could someone explain if the italic part is true and why they remove goggles?
According to the reports, though, Crippen was already seen "struggling" at the feed station, meaning he was already fatigued or in trouble a while before he went down.
The technology *does* exist. I've been in OW races where they strap a chip to your ankle, and if you like, you can have it periodically send your location to Facebook or whatever. If that can be done, they should have been able to see that one of the chips was no longer moving.
The most common "tracking devices" do not continuously broadcast position. They are passive chips that register when they pass a sensor, such as a powered mat. That system is the only one I have ever encountered at a USMS-sanctioned OW event, and lots of events don't bother with chip timing (presumably because they don't want to pay for the vendor).
In FINA World Cup OW races they determine the order of finish with a touch pad that the swimmers have to slap as they pass under it. In our local races, the ones that use chip timing determine the finish order as swimmers pass over an on-shore mat. A nice side benefit of chip timing is indeed that you can make sure that every chip that went in comes out.
Continuously broadcasting devices exist, but could you use them in an OW race? They require power (like your cell phone, say); are they waterproof? Are they small enough that the athletes could and would wear them? Is the price of the system low enough to make sense to use it given the economics of the FINA World Cup?
From what I know about how they conduct the World Cup OW races, I assume that chip timing was in use at this event. I think they just didn't have anyone paying attention to the swimmer inventory, aside from the swimmers themselves. I don't think this problem is one that has a technological solution. It's just appalling, outrageous, inexcusable human failure, and no technology or rule can prevent that.
A timing chip only records when it passes over a chip mat. It is difficult if not nearly impossible to submerge timing mats.
I'm not sure what kind of gps devices are available for swimming. In my opinion nothing beats boats with lifeguards watching the swimmers carefully from a close distance.
But not if you want to rescue a swimmer on the surface and intervene within the short time window it may take from a sign of distress and slipping under. This could be seconds.
It could be seconds, but it could be longer, too. And even if someone does go under, you want to be able to find them as quickly as possible. If you know exactly where the swimmer went under you can find them faster. Every second could count. To me it's like back country skiing with an avalanche beacon. The beacon certainly isn't going to guarantee your survival, but it's a heck of a lot better than not having one.
I do agree that something like this should only be considered a second line of defense. Safety personnel on the water with the swimmers should never be neglected.
It was a FINA sanctioned event. FINA needs to accept responsibility for Fran's death and take corrective action to insure that this does not happen again.
19 years ago when I was at UAE for work most of us contacted amoebic parasites (like e. histolytica trophozite cysts:eek:). We got this from eating fresh produce. This would definately dehyrate an athlete.
