In a Swedish doping study, 55 men were willingly injected with testosterone, before undergoing the standard urine doping test. 17 of them tested negative, because they are missing a gene used to convert the testosterone into a form that dissolves in urine. This gene variation is especially common in Asian men.
Source: The New York Times
Year: 2008
Madsen, who had a long history of coaching in Germany before accepting the DSV offer, is not yet convinced the Speedo suit makes a technical difference but there is no questioning the psychological impact.
“There have been 39 world records, long and short course, this year and 90 percent of them were in Speedo,” Madsen told Reuters during a poolside interview in Berlin, shortly before Australian swimmers set two more women’s records.
“That, or course, does something to the athletes. It’s almost impossible to put yourself in a state of mind where you say it doesn’t matter. Of course it matters.
Source: guardian.co.uk
The Italian swimming federation’s Institute of Medicine and Science is set to conduct a study on the relationship between the suits and the recent onslaught of world record. On the other hand, Dr. Brent Rushall states that this is just an example of excellence in marketing. “Speedo has picked a year in which traditionally, there is a high probability that the best swimmers will be swimming better than they ever have before”, “They capture those who are going to swim very, very fast” and “they don’t tell you how many did swim and didn’t break the records”.
Source: ESPN Sports
Drug traffickers risk 5 years in jail and €75,000 fine (7 years and €150,000 if the offence is committed as part of an organised group or against a minor), while the maximum sentence is a year in prison and a €3,750 fine when the offence is committed by a sports person for his personal use. Source: AFP
Gary Hall Jr is pretty adamant about it: “There’s obviously something there besides technology”, “I don’t want it to take the attention away from the performances but there’s doping going on in sports” and “It’s a convenient distraction for the people who dope and those who aren’t cracking down on it”. Source: Reuters
Endurance artist David Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes 4 seconds today on the Oprah Winfrey Show, breaking the previous mark of 16 minutes 38 second set by Peter Colat on February 10 this year.
Sometimes we forget that swimming is more than just a sport.
See www.infantswim.com to learn more about this particular program.
Swimmers not wearing the new space-age swimsuits should either stop crying about it or move heaven and earth to get their hands on them, says Australian head coach Don Talbot according to the Herald Sun. Meanwhile, Germans smell Olympic disaster because of wearing the wrong suits.
Carlile urges us all, swimming federations and individuals, to make our voices heard, if we believe, as he, that the intrusion of the Speedo LZR and similar Hi Tech swimwears is harming our sport. Below is enclosed the open letter from Forbes Carlile, as shown here on SwimNews.
Amaury Leveaux has broken the european men’s 50 free SCM record today with a time of 21.38, well below the 21.50 former record of Alain Bernard that was the world mark one month again, and just one tenth of a second from the 21.28 that is the current world record of Eamon Sullivan. Read here at SwimInfo.