When I went to bed last night, David Boudia and Nick McCrory were seated 2nd after the 10m Synchro Prelims. I was away from my computer, but @DiversCircle (the diving cousin of @SwimmersCircle) was doing an excellent job with Twitter commentary.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to some disappointing news from About.com Diving: So Close, Boudia & McCrory Finish Fifth. Dang! We just can’t catch a break!

The Swimmers Circle also posted a breakdown of the event, but I thought I’d throw my two cents in with a data-driven perspective.

Using data from DiveMeets.com, along with the prelim and final scores, we can see exactly where Boudia and McCrory faltered. If they had done an “average” meet, they would have been good for silver with a 456.46. However, this graph comes with a silver lining, because the pair started and finished better than you would typically expect!

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They were all featured in Beatrice Adelizzi’s Solo Exhibition at the FINA Synchronised Swimming World Trophy taking place in Moscow, Russia. For the first time, the exhibitions were not judged.

According to the report from FINA.org, Beatrice swam to the song “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica, and used a Hoola Hoop sized ring in her event. She “swam with intensity and careful details such as a half-painted dark face and a black-covered leg accentuated her theme.”

This is the only photo (here) that I could find! I can’t wait to see the video of this performance, I hope it gets posted soon!

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I thought I would just get online to check my email before going to bed, but I didn’t expect the devastating news that was waiting in my Google Reader. Fran Crippen, 26, died earlier today in the Open Water 10K World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

According to information from Swimming World, “Crippen had shown signs of slowing down during the third lap of the five-lap race” (source). And the causes of Crippen’s death are still under investigation (source).

Statements from the USOC, USA Swimming, and FINA can be found in a comprehensive article on Swimming World.

I still don’t know how to process this information. Not only am I shocked that a world class swimmer could drown in a World Cup event, but it’s difficult to think of an amazing athlete, the same age as myself, having their life tragically cut short.

I know this video clip from Go Swim was never intended to be used as a memorial to Fran (video below), but the clip superimposes his career achievements onto footage of him swimming, so I thought it would be nice to play (especially for anyone who is not already familiar with Fran and his pink briefs).

Updates: 10/24/2010, 10:45am

Latest news reports that Fran Crippen died of a fatal heart attack (source), however, the high water temperature (87 degrees) has led to some speculation that it may have contributed to his death.

According to FINA President, Julio Maglione, this is the first death in any FINA event. (source)

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland has erupted twice in less than a month, shooting clouds of ash into the skies above Europe. The cloud poses a threat to air travel, and has left thousands of passengers grounded or seeking alternate routes. (See Also: NASA Observes Ash Plume of Icelandic Volcano)

According to USA Diving, the third and final stop of the Series that would have been held in Sheffield, Great Britain this weekend (April 23-24), has been moved to April 20-21 in Veracruz, Mexico because flights to Europe have either been rescheduled or cancelled.

Although this is a trans-Atlantic venue change, it should not be as disrupting as you might think. Most of the divers competing in the final leg of the FINA World Series are already in Mexico, having just competed in the second leg of the Series at the same venue.

Found via suite101.com, British Swimming CEO, David Sparkes, says that “To ensure the athletes can resume the competition we have reluctantly agreed to accept the generous offer of the Mexican Government and Federation to step in to help in what is clearly a challenging time for everyone in Europe” (source).

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Garrett McCaffrey invited outspoken SwimNews.com reporter Craig Lord to participate in a discussion about what to do with tech-suit world records on my favorite SwimmingWorld.TV show: Split Time. The production allowed each participant ample time (over 22 minute run-time) to make their arguments in a mature, respectable manner. As noted in the comments on SwimmingWorld.TV, Craig Lord comes across entirely rational in his presentation of facts and the views he has on tech-suit world records.

The Screaming Viking, Shawn Klosterman, commented on the video:

“I was hoping to see him pound his armored fist on the table and exclaim “CRAIG LORD FEARS NO ONE!” Sometimes I like to imagine that he destroys two or three keyboards in the process of writing one article. He actually seems like a pretty rational guy.”

The speakers were in agreement on three main points: 1) That it was FINA’s “fault” that we are in the current predicament, 2) that the achievements of those athletes to set world records in then-legal suits should be honored in some way, and 3) that there should be only ONE current world record for each event.

Not surprising, however, there are some finer details that need to be worked out. Garrett and Craig stand firm in their views on several points. Particularly, Craig argues that records should be handled according to a precedent set in the 1950′s. Previously, FINA sought to standardize race conditions by only honoring world records set in a 50 meter pool.

In this way, none of the old records were taken away – however, a line was drawn in at the point the race conditions were changed and all new world records were set from that new point on (either from a FINA standard time, or from the last record set in now-legal conditions).

Garrett is an advocate for leaving the tech-suit records in place, because they set the records fairly under legal conditions, and force swimmers to catch up and aspire to faster times.

Craig ends the discussion with a call for transparency in the FINA decision-making process.

Watch the full video on SwimmingWorld.TV where you can also leave your comments on the discussion.

Some of us in the office were debating whether the old Speedo FS-II suits with nubs would be considered legal under the new FINA guidelines. Maybe I should clarify, by nubs I mean the Turbulence Management system (TMS) applied by u3-D using a silicone infusion process. The TMS system has been phased out, but since the FS-II is still on the market – you will see some of these suits floating around.

Issues with these nubs have resurfaced because the FS-II material and cut of the Recordbreaker and Recordbreaker Kneeskin are legal textile suits. However, the nubs are considered an additional silicone treatment to the otherwise completely textile suit, and would make the suit illegal under FINA guidelines.