In the wake of FINA and USA Swimming releasing their open water safety reports in the past week, Fran Crippen’s former coach Dick Shoulberg has called for the 2011 World Championships to cancel the open water event in Shanghai this summer, stating that “There’s no way it can’t be hot in Shanghai.”
We were curious what you, our readers, thought about the issue. After doing a little research, there is little information available (publicly at least) regarding water temperature at Shanghai’s man-made Jinshan Beach. However, at similar beaches on the Chinese coast of the East China Sea, water temperature patterns seem to be pretty consistent.
These water temperatures for the weeks that the FINA World Championships are in Shanghai are certainly warm. Record-high temperatures are between 29-30 degrees C (84-86 degrees F), with average water temperatures in the neighborhood of 28 C. Combined with air temperatures between 28-30 degrees C, these temperatures fall at the upper-end of the ranges recommended by both FINA and USA-Swimming, though just barely.
With that information in hand, what do you think FINA should do?
Cancel the Event Altogether-Should FINA cancel the open water race altogether? Many federations have likely already laid out huge sums of money in preparation for the event, but if there were any issues at the event, it would be a black-eye that FINA just cannot afford.
Hold the Event As Planned-Perhaps, given the temperature information above (and I’d imagine FINA has more accurate records), FINA should continue with the event as planned. Of course, they would have to go into the meet with the understanding that in the worst-case scenario (30 C water, 32 C air) they might have to cancel the event anyways. I wonder what the odds are that the Chinese federation could rig up a system that would cool the area of the course, even if just a degree or two, without absurd costs.
Hold the Event with a Flexible Schedule– Maybe FINA should have the open water swimmers show up in Shanghai, and then wait for the ideal day to hold the event? Every morning, race officials could get up at the crack-of-dawn and venture out to the sea to check the water temperatures. As soon as they hit 28 degrees, call that a race day. Unlike the other four disciplines, open water swimming really only needs two days of competition.
Change the Meet Date/Location- This solution would cost more money than holding it as planned, but not quite as much as canceling altogether. It would, however, greatly reduce the exposure of the event, the interest for sponsors, or could potentially throw off swimmers’ training plans. It would, however, allow FINA to search for an ideal competition environment where there the danger from environmental factors was as minimal as possible.
Let us know what you think. Vote on our poll on the right side of the page, and leave a comment below if you have further thoughts, or other options.
Change the location. Shoulberg is correct in saying there is no way it’s not going to be hot in Shanghai and everyone has known that and also that because of the heat it could be a dangerous venue and poor choice. Nobody had to wait for a report to come out ,they can read a thermometer. A back up plan should have been put together after Fran’s death so it wouldn’t have been considered to late to move the race.
Thinking of you on your birthday FC.
don’t cancel them, just move them to better conditions!