The 18-year-old diver Jackson James Rice died in a terrible accident just weeks before he was supposed to compete at the Olympics in Paris.
Since the teen qualified for the new kite-foiling event, he was going to be the first Caucasian to represent Tonga at an Olympic Games.
Rice died on Saturday in Faleloa, Tonga, from what was called a “suspected shallow water blackout.”
When the terrible thing happened, he was free diving from a boat.
His father Darren told the Matangi Tonga newspaper that his body was found under the boat at 12:15 p.m. and that attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
While Rice was gone, his sister Lily wrote a touching tribute to him on social media on Sunday.
And on Facebook, she said, “I had the best brother in the world, and it hurts me to say that he died.”
“He was great at kitefoiling. He should have gone to the Olympics and won a big medal…” Many wonderful friends he made all over the world.
Despite being born in the US to British parents, Rice lived in Tonga before moving there.
He was born and raised in Haʻapai, where his parents run a tourist lodge. He thought of himself as Tongan.
With an eighth-place finish at a Sail Sydney event, the talented athlete made it to what was supposed to be his first Olympic Games last December.
“Sailing, wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, and paragliding all rolled into one extreme sport,” according to ANOC.
