Gators swim team mourns loss of U.S. swimmer Fran Crippen
Monday, October 25, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Volleyball, Scott Carter
The death of U.S. swimmer Fran Crippen over the weekend during an open-water marathon event in the United Arab Emirates hit the international swimming community hard.
Crippen's death hit especially close to home at UF. Crippen's sister, Teresa, is a junior swimmer on the UF team.
She traveled to her suburban Philadelphia home over the weekend when news first broke of her older brother's death on Saturday. The Gators travel to Georgia to open their SEC dual-meet season on Friday, but Teresa Crippen is doubtful for the meet.
"We don't expect her to be here this weekend,'' UF swimming coach Gregg Troy said Monday. "It's a very tragic situation [for] an extremely close family. The whole team ... it was a loss for a lot of them. Even some of the men's team, a couple of those guys have traveled on a regular basis with Fran. He was a class act. It's a wonderful family.
"We don't expect to have Teresa back for a while and we're all doing what we can to work with the family and help them in any way possible.''
Maddy Crippen, the oldest of the four Crippen siblings, said Monday that her brother had voiced concerns about safety at the event.
"My goal is to talk to everyone who was there and to hear exactly who was there and what safety measures were there," Maddy Crippen told "Good Morning America" on Monday.
According to initial reports, Crippen died of an apparent heart attack. However, investigators won't know until official autopsy results are released.
On Fran Crippen's official website -- francrippen.com -- the family posted this message:
To Fran's fans, friends, and family,
We would like to express our heart felt appreciation for all the love you have shown us over the past few days. Each kind word and thought has brought us comfort and dulled the pain. Fran's life was filled with passion, whether it was swimming for the U.S. or cheering on his beloved Philadelphia Phillies. We take some solace knowing he passed while doing what he loved most, swimming.
It was his goal and dream to represent the United States in the Olympic Games and when you looked up the term “Olympian” it reads, “Majestic in manner; superior to mundane affairs; surpassing all others in scope and effect.” No other man or woman fits that definition as perfectly as Fran. His life was an Olympic pursuit: majestic manner, superior to mundane affairs, and surpassing all others in scope and effect. He is an Olympian in our hearts and while he no longer walks next to us, we feel him with us always.
Our love and gratitude,
Pete, Pat, Maddy, Claire and Teresa Crippen
