I just wanted to take a minute to pay respect to a local swimmer who passed away this morning. Fran Crippen came from a family of swimmers in this area - his sister went to Villanova (where Bill and I also went) and they were in our summer swim league.
Locally, if you are or were a swimmer, you knew of this family - 3 girls and 1 boy that were especially talented in swimming.
This morning I was running with my sister and her old swim coach rode by on a bike. The first thing that he shared with us was that this young man had passed away this morning in an open water swim competition in Dubai. He was 26 years old. We couldn't believe it. I can't understand how no one saw him go down. I feel so sad. I never met him, I only knew of him. I just wanted to pay my respects, share with you the article from Philly.com and revel on how short life can be. I don't understand it.
So terrible...
ReplyDeleteBrent got an email from GA athletics, since the Crippens all went there. Sounds like it was some extreme form of heat exhaustion. Shoulberg had to break the news to his family. Such a tragedy...
I just saw an article on this as well and then someone commented that the water was like 81 degrees or something. Depending on how cloudy the water was and if he was in a pack or not, I could see how someone could go down without being seen. Very, very sad.
ReplyDeleteLife is more short than anyone will ever admit. So so sad!!! :-(
ReplyDeleteSo, so sad. Saying prayers for his family.
ReplyDeleteKaz.
Life is so unpredictable. This just goes to show that anything can happen, we should cherish the moments we have. He was extremely talented and will be missed in this swimming community. His death is sad and very tragic. Thanks for sharing this on your log. My prayers go out to the Crippen family.
ReplyDeleteI just read about this on CNN.com. What sad news.
ReplyDeleteYoung death is always tragic.
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh, that's so sad. i hate hearing stories like this and it's even worse that he was so young.
ReplyDeleteVery, very sad. Thanks for sharing, life really is to dang short!
ReplyDelete