Diana Nyad, Steve Munatones, Rowdy Gaines come out swinging for Fran Crippen!

Leave it to the adults to drive the investigation into Fran Crippen's accidental homicide. I bet our active swimmers are told to shut up or else!

From CNN:

Steve Munatones:

"Water in the 80s feels like a Jacuzzi," agreed Steven Munatones, who helped write safety rules for FINA, the international governing body for the sport of open-water swimming. He also noted that there was no cloud cover during the UAE competition, "which makes it even more uncomfortable."

Diana Nyad:

Swimming in warm water can trigger nausea, vomiting and light-headedness, said Nyad, who recalled swimming for eight hours in 89-degree water in August.

After long swims in hot water, her veins lay "absolutely flat," and Nyad needed four liters of IV fluid to recover.

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Rowdy Gaines was even more definitive:

NBC Sports swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines called the high water temperature Saturday in Dubai "an accident waiting to happen" Monday morning on The Today’s Show, and the network’s Philadelphia affiliate spoke Sunday with Fran’s sister Maddy Crippen, who placed sixth in the 400m IM in Sydney. On Monday, she told ABC News her brother had for months been expressing concerns about the safety measures in place at such events.

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If Fran Crippen was telling his sister the conditions were hazardous, you know he was telling FINA and USA Swimming. These people are suppose to be the "players union" so to speak but instead they are owners and the swimmers have no union to protect them from, errr, swimming in hazardous conditions.

Are we at the point where the athletes have to have an advocate/lawyer go to the meets and the open water races and make sure the rules are followed - but if they do will they be barred from competing?

The evidence is clear: They intentionally violated their own guidelines and summarily forced the swimmers to go out there and swim due to the silly rules about prize money and international rankings. These swimmers were quasi-ordered to swim or lose out on both a rating and their daily bread. That is messed up and I think the NGBs should not be pretending that they are going to investigate. It should be investigated by law enforcement and the civil courts.

I'm thinking that a swimmer has to bring his own lifeguard to an open water swim, four liters of 0.9% Saline solutions, and a lawyer!