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New York Road Runners president & CEO Mary Wittenberg talks to ESPN's Bob Ley on "Outside The Lines" about the NYC Marathon being held as the city still recovers from Superstorm Sandy:

Fran Crippen drowned two years ago today in a 10-kilometer open water race in the United Arab Emirates, and it's still a searingly sad day for his multitude of friends both inside and outside the swimming community.

Dozens of them posted their thoughts on Twitter, including University of Virginia teammate and 2012 Olympian Matt McLean, who wrote, "We miss you and think of you everyday. You're an inspiration to us all and we try and be a little more like you every day. A true hero ... Really can't think of a better possible friend, role model, and mentor than Fran."

Those sentiments are still a comfort to Crippen's family -- his parents, Pete and Pat, and talented swimming sisters Maddy, Claire and Teresa -- on this anniversary. Pete and Pat have always had an open door policy for all their kids' friends, and they'll have lots of company today in their home in suburban Philadelphia.

The Crippens are not the kind of people who stop living. But their son's death feels raw and fresh every time they hear of a safety lapse in an open water race or a fatality in the sport of triathlon. When it looked, briefly, as if elite open water swimmers in the United States might have their funding and coaching support cut, Pete Crippen didn't mince words in an e-mail to the USA Swimming leadership.

"Where is the commitment to open water swimming? Where are the safety concerns for the athletes? Do we have to sacrifice another athlete because USA Swimming does not want to spend the money which is readily available?" Pete Crippen wrote. The issue was ultimately resolved in the swimmers' favor.

In short, the Crippens won't rest until they believe they've done everything they can to ensure no other parents lose a child the way they did. The foundation they set up after Fran's death is devoted to promoting safety and supporting athletes in open water swimming, an extreme sport that masquerades as an adjunct to the pool but couldn't be more different.

The senior Crippens are weighing legal action against both the national and international federations and filed technical paperwork in Philadelphia earlier this month to preserve their right to file a wrongful death lawsuit at a later date. They will not comment on that process, but there is no doubt it would be a painful path for a family that has been steeped in swimming for more than 20 years.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings stopped by SportsCenter on Wednesday to discuss the road ahead:

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Welcoming sporting champions to the White House is a ritual that goes on no matter what -- a rare, unequivocally happy moment in the life of both athletes and the president who serves at the time of their success.

Friday, it was a brief respite from world events, in this case the tragic deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans working at the consulate in Libya that lowered flags around the country to half-staff and made one of President Barack Obama's later appointments a somber one. Just two hours after Obama stayed past the allotted time to shake the hands of as many Olympians and Paralympians as possible, he departed by helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base to be present when the diplomats' remains arrived.

But for one sunny hour on the South Lawn, close to 400 athletes basked in the afterglow of their achievements this summer in London. The president called himself the "Fan-in-Chief" who taped events so he could watch them at the end of his long workdays; first lady Michelle Obama, who led the U.S. delegation in London, singled out double Paralympic swimming gold medalist Brad Snyder, a Navy lieutenant blinded while on duty in Afghanistan last year.

Then, for once, the tables were turned. Rather than being swarmed by fans, it was the athletes who came down off the risers and lined up for photo ops and hugs from Mr. and Mrs. Obama, who were joined by Vice President Joe Biden.

Gold medalist Aries Merritt maintained his Olympic peak and set a world record in his specialty, the 110-meter hurdles, in Belgium last week. He was pleasantly surprised when the president recognized and greeted him as "the hurdle guy," and decided to share a personal story: His grandmother, Louise Hubbard, who died shortly before the 2008 election, predicted Obama would win, he told the president.

Sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross, who doubled up on gold in the 400 meters and 4x400 relay, initially found herself tongue-tied and couldn't muster the thanks she'd planned to express for support from the top. "Michelle Obama embodies, to me, a woman who supports her husband and is a great role model," Richards-Ross said. She did eventually find her voice to ask Mrs. Obama if she could be a part of the "Let's Move" youth fitness initiative -- a request the first lady obliged by putting her in touch with an assistant.

For Richards-Ross, who is committed to competing in the 2016 Rio Games, the White House visit represented the end of a four-year cycle but not a career. The day was slightly more poignant for 2008 fencing silver medalist Tim Morehouse, who was attending his third White House team gathering but is retiring from competition.

"I'm a fencer for life," said Morehouse, who once fenced the president at a White House event. "It doesn't mean I'll never pick up my sabre again." In fact, he is finalizing the details of a New York-based pilot program to train physical education teachers to teach fencing. "I want to get a million kids fencing," he said.

President Obama singled out several athletes in attendance, including swimmer Michael Phelps, who now holds the all-time medal haul record of 22; sprinter Tyson Gay; weightlifter Holley Mangold; discus thrower Lance Brooks; Paralympic volleyball player Kari Miller; and 15-year-old 800-meter swimming gold medalist Katie Ledecky, whom Obama praised for finishing her summer high school reading assignments amid all the excitement.

He also called Manteo Mitchell, who finished his leg of a 4x400 preliminary heat with a broken shin bone, "one of my favorite stories of the whole Olympics."

Open water safety issues that emerged in the aftermath of Fran Crippen's drowning death almost two years ago are still on the front burner for top U.S. swimmers, and many were angry when they were informed last week they would have to foot at least part of the bill to bring their own coaches to international events.

USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the memo sent by the national team staff was premature and the federation's board of directors, which is meeting in Greensboro, N.C. this week, voted Tuesday to allocate sufficient funds to pay for coaches' travel. FINA, the sport's international governing body, has instituted a one-coach-per-athlete requirement at international events of 5 kilometers (3 miles) or longer to help track and feed athletes during races.

"People were understandably upset," Wielgus said. "Things got ahead of themselves, and that memo shouldn't have gone out."

Among those most upset was Crippen's father Pete, who sent a strongly worded email to Wielgus and USA Swimming president Bruce Stratton when he learned what the swimmers had been told.

"Do we have to sacrifice another athlete because USA Swimming does not want to spend the money which is readily available?" Pete Crippen wrote in a letter he forwarded to ESPN.com.

Despite the work of two different commissions charged with investigating Fran Crippen's death and making recommendations to prevent another tragedy, it's fair to say that open water safety reform is still a work in progress.

Water and air temperatures in the 90s on the course in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, contributed to Crippen's death in October 2010. FINA is still awaiting the results of a scientific study to determine how to set a maximum water temperature for open water races. Swimmers from around the world have lobbied for a maximum in the low-to-mid 80s. USA Swimming-sanctioned races now abide by a maximum of 29.45 degrees Celsius, or 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and a heat index maximum of 177.4 degrees that factors in the ambient air temperature. (A minimum temperature of just under 61 degrees was already in place prior to Crippen's death.)

FINA's recommended maximum is 31 degrees Celsius, or 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit, a recommendation numerous swimmers and observers said was blatantly violated at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai in the 25-kilometer race. The measurement is taken before the start, and in a warm-weather climate would naturally rise as the race goes on. Several top athletes, including 2009 25K world champion and 2012 Olympian Alex Meyer, refused to compete in the longer event.

U.S. swimmers were under the impression that the USA Swimming board of directors was prepared to endorse the FINA maximum for international events, but Wielgus said he doesn't expect any formal action this week and added that the federation wants to see the results of the scientific study.

The coaching issue is not a simple one either. The one-coach/one-athlete rule is a good concept, but college jobs are the backbone of U.S. elite programs, and in practice, many coaches could be hard-pressed to travel to far-flung World Cup and Grand Prix races in South America, Europe and Asia during the NCAA season. That experience is crucial to success at world championships and the Olympics, swimmers and coaches say.

USA Swimming open water program manager Bryce Elser, who comes from a pool swimming and ocean lifeguarding background, travels with the team, but federation
officials have told open water team members that the coach assigned part time to the program, Paul Asmuth, is being let go.

The 10K event was added to the Olympic program in 2008. This summer, USC swimmer Haley Anderson won a silver medal in the women's race, while Meyer finished 10th in the men's race.