Sailors, please explain. Olympic sailor dead after boat capsizes even though coach was right next to her in motorboat?

- knocked out by the boom

- tangled in rigging and trapped under the boat

- panic + a poor swimmer (she was only 17 after all)

All of those are possible. In addition, if the boat fully capsized and she was wearing a PFD (which most competitive sailors do for good reason) the sailor can be trapped in the cockpit and unable to duck underwater to swim out. Add lines (potentially strapped into a harness as well), darkness and panic, and you have a recipe for tragedy.

Why is an athlete under the age of 18 allowed to compete in the Olympics ?

Possibly some combination of these, although it is weird that this would happen to an olympic caliber athlete. It is fairly common to capsize multiple times each day in training in strong wind, it is kind of routine. Probably a freak accident occurred.

In high winds they would have been hooked into the trapeze lines and when things go wrong, one can get launched into the mast, potentially losing consciousness. It's also possible, as others have noted, to get tangled in the rigging and become disoriented.

Why shouldn't an athlete under the age 18 be allowed to compete in the Olympics? Maybe the minimum age should be 21? Or, let's be really safe and make it 25. We should probably cancel all athletic events for athletes under the age 18 (sorry, not more high school sports). Do you even think before you post? Or do you just say stupid stuff and see what happens?

Legit question, but probably not the best thread to ask it.

Add in swallowing a lot of water and even the slight delay as the coach rescued the sister first.

No indication she was a poor swimmer or that she panicked either.

I take it you're not familiar with the Olympics then? There are these sports called Gymnastics and Figure Skating that take place there and....get this....the winners (it's called a Gold Medal) are often under 18. Shocking I know.

Because it's a tradition.

teenvogue.com

11 of the Youngest Olympians EVER

Colleen Curry

Including 10-year-old Dimitrios Loundras, and 15-year-old gold-medalist Tara Lipinski.

Open link

Exploitation of children - and we have seen this is many sports.

worldathletics.org

New research shows scale of child abuse in sport | NEWS | World Athletics

Open link

Wow, they figured that out already.

Of course if you want to be good at playing violin, gymnastics, figure skating or tennis you have to start very young.

Have you watched women’s gymnastics? Or many other sports?

Because both were in trouble and Sarra was closer

I mean… ok. But this didn’t happen in the Olympics. Even if you made the minimum age for Olympic competition 18 they’d better be doing some world class training by 17, right?