Dzmitry Ryshkevich’s death at the 2019 World Rowing Championships reminds us of two recurrent issues in rowing safety. The first issue, of course, is the fact of his death, apparently by drowning. The fact that rowers continue to die from routine accidents is troubling. Historically, rowing has regarded every death as a “freak” occurrence in an inherently safe sport. But given the small numbers of rowers relative to other sports at the scholastic level, the death rate in rowing seems to be relatively high. The second issue – closely related to the first — is that rowing lacks the accounting and analysis of accidents necessary improve its safety. Because it maintains the belief that rowing is inherently safe, it isn’t doing the hard work to make it safer.
The fact that Dzmitry Ryshkevich’s death occurred at the World Rowing Championships is telling. He was, presumably, following all of the requisite guidelines for rowing safety. He was an elite rower, rowing in fair weather, on warm water, and his accident was witnessed by professional rescue personnel — including a lifeguard and dive team — who deployed to his rescue immediately. Nonetheless, he was lost in the murky water and his body wasn’t recovered for several hours. Why? How did this happen?
It is important for rowers to know as much as possible about the details of accidents such as this. Why couldn’t professional rescuers who saw him capsize save him? What went wrong? Four months after the accident we still don’t know.
Here’s what has been reported.
Immediately following the accident, World Rowing wrote it “is deeply saddened to report the passing of 33-year-old Belarus para-rower Dzmitry Ryshkevich who died yesterday, Wednesday, 21 August 2019. This occurred during a training session before the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria.”
The Telegraph added that he died after capsizing, and that World Rowing had said “a rescue boat with a lifeguard reacted immediately:” Ryshkevich disappeared from sight and his body was found three hours later in the murky water. The Washington Post added several more details attributed to World Rowing. According to the Post, Ryshkevich was “an experienced para-rower in the PR1 men’s single sculls…(who) disappeared from sight when his boat flipped.” His body was eventually found in eight feet of water, “near where his boat capsized.” An investigation had begun, it reported, with a preliminary focus on the stabilizing pontoons used in para rowing. Both the Washington Post and the AP reported that he had been able to free himself from the safety harnesses used by para-rowers.
Row2K offered several more details. “According to Upper Austrian police spokesman Michael Babl, around 1:30 pm Ryshkevich “flipped in view of safety personnel on the scene… This was seen by the firefighters, the dive team of the firefighters, who were also on the water (and) immediately went to the man and tried to reach him… Babl said the on-scene rescue crew saw Ryshkevich flip into the water, and were able to reach his shell while he was still within sight and clinging to the boat. Ryshkevich was reportedly able to undo the safety belt that restricted his upper body movement while he rowed, and to free his feet from the shoes that attached to the boat… But before rescuers could get him out of the water, Ryshkevich slipped out of sight under the surface of the water.”
Four months after the accident, in January, 2020, we are still awaiting release of the official police investigation. Nothing none of this information has been confirmed and nothing more has been reported. FISA, for its part, is apparently constrained from conducting its own investigation until the police report has been released. Perhaps it is justifiable that an official report should take several months to complete and release – even after an incident that was reportedly witnessed by firefighters and rescue personnel. Such reports are often completed quickly and then languish or disappear into bureaucratic Less justifiable, however, is the unwillingness of organizations such as USRowing to require the reporting of serious accidents and to review them closely for what might be learned.
In the case of Dzmitry Ryshkevich’s death – assuming it’s true rescuers were able to reach him – it is important to know what happened between the moment he was seen to capsize and the moment he slipped beneath the water. Were rescuers able to get hold of him? Did they lose their grip? How was he being held? If they weren’t able to reach him, how close did they come? What rescue apparatus might have closed the gap between them as they approached him? In the case of Mohammed Ramzan’s death two years ago we learned from the official police investigation that Ramzan had told teammates his concern about not knowing how to swim, but neither USRowing nor Northwestern University has released information about the rescue efforts that failed. If we don’t know what efforts failed, and why, how can we hope to improve the safety of rowing? In the case of the Bishop O’Connell High School accident (March, 2018), what caused the coach’s launch to capsize? What rescue techniques helped get some kids out of the water? What rescue techniques failed and left others to their fates? The unwillingness of Bishop O’Connell High School administrators or Thompson Boat Center officials to discuss any details of this accident prevents us from learning details that might save others. It is an unwillingness to share accident information that exists throughout the rowing community.
For the time being we can hope — in the absence of information sharing, serious analyses, and minimum safety standards — that no more rowers die in common accidents. Hope, however, will not prevent more unnecessary deaths.