Remembering USA Swimmer Fran Crippen

Fran Crippen on the medal podium at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday, Oct. 23, marked one year since Fran Crippen’s tragic death during a 10-kilometer open water race in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Fran Crippen, a member of USA Swimming’s national team, was participating in the last race of FINA’s 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup series when he lost consciousness and drowned. Now a year later, his family and friends are remembering and honoring him.

A day before the one-year anniversary of Fran Crippen's death, a number of his teammates on the national team, and current members of FAST Swimming in Fullerton, Calif., honored their friend and teammate by holding a special practice along with scattering flowers at the Long Beach Marina in Long Beach, Calif.

Fran Crippen’s older sister, Maddy Crippen, remembered her brother with a memory of the day she made the 2000 Olympic team. Her younger brother was the first person to run up to hug and congratulate her. She was still in the pool, and he was preparing for his own race. Nevertheless, he made his way towards her. “It was all such a blur but he was just as excited for me in the moment, as he would have been for himself,” Maddy Crippen said, “That is the kind of person he was.”

 The Crippen family, along with a number of Crippen’s friends, is continuing the fight for athlete safety in open water swimming. The Fran Crippen Elevation Foundation was launched in November 2010. The FCEF strives to promote open water safety and is committed to helping other swimmers like Fran Crippen Work the Dream.   

The foundation offers “Work the Dream” grants to swimmers who are working toward their dream of becoming an Olympian. The “Work the Dream” grant provides funding to these athletes so they can focus on training without worries. “We want to be a financial resource for athletes who, like Fran, have big dreams and the power to go after them!” said Maddy Crippen, Officer at the FCEF.
           The FCEF works with safety advocates and medical professionals and organizes committees to ensure that something as preventable as Fran Crippen’s death does not happen again. The FCEF has also established Team Fran. A team made up of volunteers that participate at community events, help at swim clinics and do various other things that Fran Crippen spent his time doing. The proceeds of the events go to the various FCEF programs.

Fran Crippen and the FCEF were honored in September at a MLB Phillies game. Maddy Crippen threw out the ceremonial first pitch. “Fran was a HUGE Phillies fan and for them to honor him the way they did was very meaningful for all his friends and family,” Maddy Crippen said. 

Fran Crippen won six national titles during his swimming career and was a member of USA Swimming and the national team. Fran Crippen was well on his way to competing at the London 2012 Olympic games in open water swimming, but he wasn’t always an open water swimmer. 
          He transitioned from the pool to open water in 2006 and swam under Coach Bill Rose in Mission Viejo, Calif. with the Mission Viejo Nadadores from 2006 to 2008.“Fran loved to race and compete: meets, practice, it didn't matter, and once the pool door opened it was ‘Go Time.’,” Maddy Crippen said,  “RELENTLESS describes Fran's approach to excellence.” 
           In 2007 he won gold in the 10K at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and also took the gold at the 2009 Rome FINAWorld Championships. He took the silver in the 10K at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, Calif. 

“His loyalty to family, friends, his University and his Teammates was palpable,” Maddy Crippen said. Fran Crippen represented the Germantown Academy Aquatic Club in Fort Washington, Pa.