Chuck Wielgus, CEO of USA Swimming, provides a fitting and moving remembrance note to the American swimming community today. Below is a substantial extract:

"There are no words that can adequately describe the roller coaster of emotions that the swimming family has traveled this past week.  Nor are there enough words to adequately translate for those not in Conshohocken these past few days what took place here.  People from around the country, and indeed even a few from other countries, made their way to this special place to gather, to place arms around one another’s shoulders and to embrace the Crippen family in a circle of love and affection.  There was much crying, some laughing, much reminiscing and overwhelming moments of solemn private reflections as we listened to those who spoke and shared such deep and heartfelt memories, thoughts and sentiments with us. 

Virginia Swim Coach Mark Bernardino opened the ceremonies with rich and warm stories of what Fran meant to his family and to the swim team at the University of Virginia, where Fran was the team captain and leader.  He took us on a short journey with words that conveyed images of Fran’s many qualities and characteristics, and he painted pictures that made us smile and made us cry.  Fran’s Germantown Academy brothers were represented in Geoff Meyer’s first reading of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and others who spoke after were equally composed, but perhaps none more so that Fran’s girlfriend, Caitlin Regan who spoke in a manner that conveyed the deepest of love and respect not just for Fran but for the entire Crippen family.  Whatever Caitlin’s future might become, it will be impossible for anyone who heard her speak in such a strong and composed way not to think that perhaps there will in some way always be four Crippen sisters.

At the end of the service, Fran was carried from the church by his GA and UVA brothers and the long procession to the Calvary Cemetery ensued for the burial.  As the church emptied, so too did the adjoining hall where those who could not get into the church were able to watch via video.  People had come to the church 2-3 hours early and still had to wait in a line that stretched around the block. 

Following the burial, a reception was held at Germantown Academy.  There, many of us lingered in the hallowed space that is the swimming pool at GA and the place where Dick Shoulberg has shaped both swimmers and souls for decades.  When you step in, you don’t want to leave and you know you are in a cocoon of passion, of heart, of commitment, of success and accomplishment.  It is a sanctuary where the greatest of teaching takes place, and where young men and young women grow and emerge and blossom into adults ready to make a difference in the world.

Back in the GA  field house, where the reception was going on, the UVA brothers circled up, locked arms and began their college cheers.  Not to be outdone, the GA brothers responded in kind and amidst the exuberance of their youth the attending adults could be seen with both wide smiles and teary eyes.  And then another special moment, Eva Fabian, the young 17-year old swimmer who also competed at the race in the UAE with Fran stepped before a microphone and played a rendition of the national anthem on her violin that stirred every heart and punctuated the day.

As things drew to a close and people began to drift away, it was hard not to begin turning one’s thoughts to what happens next.  How will family and friends respond to this tragedy?  How will life go on for those most deeply affected by the loss?  What will be done to help the young athletes and others who will struggle with their ongoing grief?  What will organizations and others do to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again? Many, many questions."

Many things have been quietly in the works below the surface this past week.  Counselors and others with experience have been made available to the family, to friends and to athletes who were Fran’s teammates.  FINA has already announced plans to conduct an investigation, and so too has USA Swimming.  Investigators of the highest caliber with international experience and specific experience in the UAE are already engaged and at work in the fact-finding that must be done.  USA Swimming’s is forming its review commission that will receive the investigator’s report and consider many other things in an effort to provide the Crippen family with information on what happened before, during and after the competition; and to come forward with recommendations necessary to improve safety at future open water events so that nothing like this ever happens again."

The note concludes with a call for patience as inquiries proceed. "The process of fact-finding will take several months and people should not expect progress reports along the way while this work is ongoing," he notes.

He urges anyone with "information and recommendations they have to share to take the time now to write things down while things are still fresh and to have this ready to share with the commission once it is established and a conduit has been set up to receive information."

He and USA Swimming President Bruce Stratton had formed a "kitchen cabinet of wise and experienced people helping us" and that the process would be as transparent as possible.

Wielgus concludes: "With the deepest of sorrow, and the strongest of intent to ensure that no other family has to carry the weight of a similar tragedy."