Tonga Olympian, 18, gearing up for Paris Games, dead in diving accident

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FILE - The Paris 2024 logo, representing the Olympic Games is displayed near the Eiffel Tower three months prior to the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games on April 21, 2024 in Paris, France.

J.J. Rice, a U.S.-born kitefoiler who was set to represent Tonga in the upcoming Paris Olympics, died in a diving accident over the weekend, his father said. He was 18.

Jackson James Rice was set to be the first Caucasian to represent Tonga in the Olympics. He died at Faleloa on the island of Ha’apai in Tonga. His father, Darren Rice, confirmed his son’s death in the Matangi Tonga newspaper.

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"I was blessed with the most amazing brother in the whole world and it pains me to say that he’s passed away," Lily Rice, J.J.’s sister, wrote in a Facebook post. "He was an amazing kitefoiler and he would have made it to the Olympics and come out with a big shiny medal. He made so many amazing friends all over the world."

Rice was free diving from a boat when he suffered a suspected shallow water blackout, according to Matangi Tonga.

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Rice was born in the U.S. but grew up on Ha’apai, where his parents run a tourist lodge. He finished in eighth place in the Sail Sydney event in December to earn a spot in the Olympics. Since then, he had been training and competing in Europe before the accident.

Kitefoilers compete on boards that are lifted off of the water on foils and can reach speeds of more than 30 mph.