British Olympics minister Tessa Jowell announced yesterday her aim to make swimming free for all by 2012, with the over 60’s enjoying free swims by the end of this year. This to help get the nation fit without creating an extra burden on the bank balance.
Read Telegraph.co.uk
The rule goes into effect on July 1 and will first apply to eligibility for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. “Should an athlete get caught doping in Beijing and then get a sanction of six months, he will not be eligible for the 2012 London Games,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
Source: thestar.com
‘POWERSKIN R-EVOLUTION +, maintains all the innovative features already introduced with the POWERSKIN R-EVOLUTION suit (one single piece of fabric, zero seams on the front and just two low-profiled, thermo-fused sews (seams) and incredible light fabric: only 99g/sqm, ) with additional PU [polyurethane] panels, strategically placed to improve muscle compression’
Source: SwimNews
Turns out that there is a suit made by New Zealand company Blue Seventy, that is competitive with the Speedo LZR and its likes, already out there, and even lasts for up to 25 races.
Read swimnetwork.com
The Japanese Swimming Federation gave the three Japanese sportswear companies until May 30 to come up with an outfit comparable to the LZR Racer, which they then have unveiled by now. Asics and Descente have used a new “world’s fastest swimwear material” called Biorubber Swim-SCS Fabric and polyurethane, while Mizuno say they have a new material tightening the swimmer’s body.
Source: AFP
Irish Andrew Bree admitted the use of an over-the-counter Vicks Nasal Inhaler, which in the US contains the banned substance of Levmethamfetamine. The doping panel was convinced that the use of the drug was not intended to enhance performance and that Bree had gone to “all possible lengths to check that the medial product that he was using contained no such banned substance.”
Source: SwimInfo
Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) and the University of Western Australia can determine whether a change is beneficial without actually changing a swimmer’s technique, by inputting the 3D kinematics (body movements) of the swimmer, and then calculate the way the water moves around this 3D animation using ‘computational fluid dynamics’. This takes the ‘trial and error’ approach out of technique prescription. The video below demonstrates how they can model and measure the swimming stroke of world record holder Eamon Sullivan.
Source: ScienceNetwork WA
European 200-meter butterfly champion Ioannis Drymonakos from Greece tested positive for Methyltrienolone on March 6, and is therefore “withdrawing from swimming and reserves the right to exercise all legal rights to safeguard his honor and reputation”. This is the same steroid for which 11 Greek weightlifters tested positive in a separate recent doping scandal.
Source: International Herald Tribune
In a Grand Prix meet at Santa Clara, Calif., Phelps won the 100 backstroke in 54.03 seconds. World record-holder Aaron Peirsol, the reigning Olympic champion, was second in 54.36. It was the first time Phelps had ever beaten Peirsol in backstroke.
Source: indystar.com