{"id":222495,"date":"2016-09-27T11:36:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T18:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=222495"},"modified":"2016-09-28T09:45:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T16:45:23","slug":"jose-fernandez-death-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jose-fernandez-death-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Life’s Fragility After Tragedy in Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder.<\/em><\/p>\n

At first, it never seems like it can be real.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Fran Crippen\u00a0<\/strong>passed away almost six years ago, the reaction was denial and then\u00a0pure shock.\u00a0Surely, there was no way Crippen\u00a0could be gone\u2014truly gone\u2014right?<\/p>\n

How could it be possible that a swimmer had died in competition? Especially one like Crippen, who was just hitting his stride in the sport?<\/p>\n

Two years later, it was the heartbreaking news that\u00a0Alexander Dale Oen<\/strong> was gone, three months before what would have been his long-awaited close up on the biggest stage in the sport.<\/p>\n

And Sunday morning, baseball woke up to the news that one of its most well-known, charismatic stars was gone.\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Fern\u00e1ndez<\/strong>, a Cuban defector-turned-one of the best pitchers in baseball and a hero among Miami Marlins fans, had passed away.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez and two friends were\u00a0killed in a boating accident around 3 a.m. off the coast of Miami Beach. Their craft slammed into a jetty, and all three were ejected. Fernandez was just 24 years old.<\/p>\n

Professional athletes\u2014let alone one so talented, popular and successful as Fern\u00e1ndez\u2014appear larger than life. Fans know them for what they accomplish on the field or on the court or, yes, in the pool. There are bad days\u2014adding time in swimming or perhaps giving up seven earned runs while pitching\u2014but those will all be forgotten in time.<\/p>\n

Then there are the really bad days, perhaps when an injury is involved. Fern\u00e1ndez was no stranger to such misfortune, as he suffered an elbow injury before the 2014 season that required Tommy John surgery and kept him out of the game for 14 months.<\/p>\n

On the worst days in sports, careers end for reasons outside the athlete\u2019s control\u2014such as the blood clots which will likely prevent future Hall of Famer Chris Bosh<\/strong> from playing basketball again.<\/p>\n

But athletics is just an arena, a venue to puts one\u2019s impressive talents on display. Real life exists\u2014and goes on, even after one’s sporting career is\u00a0over. Star athletes\u00a0face adversity\u2014even tragedy\u2014the same as any other human being.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez had been so successful but still had so much left to achieve\u2014just like Dale Oen and just like Crippen.<\/p>\n

In April 2012, Dale Oen was already a star in his home country of Norway and was favored to win Olympic gold in the 100 breast\u00a0that summer.\u00a0He had already won a silver in the\u00a0event at\u00a0the 2008 Olympics (behind the great Kosuke Kitajima<\/strong>), and in 2011 he won his first World title.<\/p>\n

But while training at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., three months before the Games, Dale Oen collapsed in the shower and died at age 26. Autopsies revealed a previously-unknown heart condition.<\/p>\n

The 100 breast in London would go on without Dale Oen, but he would not be forgotten. South Africa\u2019s Cameron van der Burgh<\/strong> won gold and set a new world record in the event\u2014and then dedicated the swim to his good friend. Daniel Gyurta<\/strong> won the 200 breast in London and then offered a copy of his gold medal to Dale Oen\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

And then there was Fran Crippen<\/strong>, the top open water swimmer in the U.S.\u00a0in 2009 and 2010, having won a bronze medal in the 10k at the World Championships in 2009\u00a0and a silver in the event at the Pan Pacs in 2010. A year later, Crippen would have the opportunity to earn a spot on his first Olympic team.<\/p>\n

But while competing\u00a0in the last World Cup race of the season\u00a0in the United Arab Emirates on October 23, the 26-year-old\u00a0never finished. Countryman and close friend Alex Meyer<\/strong> noticed Crippen\u2019s absence, and not long after, a search party found Crippen\u2019s body 500 meters under in the high-80s water\u00a0that undoubtedly contributed to his death.<\/p>\n

Crippen\u2019s death brought about a major push for increased safety in open water races, and his incredible work ethic was not forgotten as Meyer went on to earn a spot to swim the 10k in London, where he ended up finishing tenth.<\/p>\n

Their legacies cannot be forgotten, but how can these young, extraordinary figures be gone so soon, so suddenly?<\/p>\n

That’s something that those close to Fern\u00e1ndez are still trying to come to grips with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don’t really understand why. I\u00a0don’t understand how something like that happens,” Astros pitcher\u00a0Lance McCullers<\/strong> said Sunday<\/a>. McCullers and\u00a0Fern\u00e1ndez had been friends since\u00a0their high school days in the Tampa, Fla., area.<\/p>\n