[link=http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=5718372]ESPN's article about it.[/link] Fran Crippen, 26, was an accomplished open water swimmer. From what the article says, the temperature of the water must have been in the mid to high 80s, which is really warm to be racing in. Sorry to hear about this - it's always a shame when someone that young dies. At least it was doing what he loved.



As a former swimmer (in elementary school, mind you ) I think that open water swimming is crazy - I'd never want to swim anything more than 500 meters at a time. It certainly is a challenging sport, and it will be without a good competitor. RIP.

 

RIP

Completely echo this statement on all counts.

 

And there you have it.........


Early tests suggest U.S. swimmer had heart attack
Preliminary medical tests indicate that Fran Crippen, a member of the U.S. swimming team, had a fatal heart attack during an open-water race in the United Arab Emirates, a swimming official told CNN on Sunday.

"So far, the preliminary medical tests indicate that [Fran] Crippen died of heart attack," said Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the water sports club in Fujairah.

Crippen, 26, died Saturday during the last leg of the 10-kilometer Marathon Swimming World Cup in Fujairah, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) said in a news release.

Swimming World magazine reported that Crippen fell unconscious during the event and was found by deep-sea divers two hours later near the race's final buoy.

Post by: CNN's Caroline Faraj, The CNN Wire
Filed under: U.S.

 

I suppose heart attack makes sense...it's still really unfortunate.