Author: rokur

Firefighters in Mesa, Arizona were in for a big surprise Saturday when they had to rescue a horse from a back yard pool. It’s unclear how the horse got in, but after using a tranquilizer to keep it calm crews used straps to pull the horse out. http://youtu.be/sEIf90Nh7-o

A tranquil diving trip turned into a nightmare during a sea lion attack. The rare moment was captured on tape as freediver Chris Okamoto enjoyed the silence of the blue ocean on the Californian coast. He had been swimming near the Santa Barbara island on October 10 when an adult sea lion rushed towards him with it mouth open. Quick-thinking Chris brandished the butt of his speargun and the angry mammal retreated. http://youtu.be/e2uTdQo1gog

Former Olympic swimmer and world record holder Ariana Kukors has been busy training in California since she came out of retirement to take a shot at one more Summer Olympics. She returned to Seattle this week to support a cause that’s very close to her heart. See King5

At the recent CMAS European Apnea World Championships in Tenerife, Croatian Freediver Goran Colak set a new CMAS Dynamic World Record by swimming 288m with fins in one breath. Via DeeperBlue http://youtu.be/soC-CHrAvwE

Australia’s Dawn Fraser recalls how she felt taking part in the Olympic games for the first time and describes how it felt winning gold at the Melbourne 1956 games. The four time Olympic gold medalist still considers 1956 as her most enjoyable Olympic games and explains the pride she felt swimming for her country at the Olympics for the first time. Courtesy of Olympics on YouTube http://youtu.be/1ecI4CjAIEA

Today in Bergen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg officially opened the impressive AdO arena svimming facility, named after Alexander Dale Oen. Solberg mentioned Alex in her opening speech: ‘A person is missing here today. Norway’s undisputed top swimmer who passed away far too early, barely 27 years old. A great athlete, arguably one of the greatest.’ Images courtesy of Sander Englund Smørdal / simma.nu/no

Jacob’s Well, Wimberley, Texas, see for instance Wikipedia and visitwimberley.com http://youtu.be/xxpMTK4dwzg

Australian marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel has successfully completed a world record 126km swim in the Bahamas. McCardel’s support team says the 42 hour effort between two islands is the longest open-water solo, continuous marathon swim in history. McCardel’s team say her effort surpasses a similar record set by Australian-British swimmer Penny Palfrey in 2011. Read for instance The Sydney Morning Herald http://youtu.be/NJAb7aC0OlE http://youtu.be/nqiLY4tV6Xs http://youtu.be/rg8Eycz9IiQ

With just over a month to go before the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), Qatar is already setting records as an unprecedented 1,300 swimmers have registered their interest in competing at Hamad Aquatic Centre. Also, more than 500 team officials have registered to participate in the event. As of yesterday, 174 countries will be represented at this year’s event, which will be held from December 3-7, 2014. Whilst athletes are still undergoing the formal approval process in order to confirm their place at swimming’s showpiece event, all signs point towards Qatar being set to attract more swimmers to a…

Sport England’s Active People Survey shows that participation in football continues to decrease from 4.97% to 4.33% of the population and that 94% of participants are male. In fact, if walking is excluded, swimming is the national sport for participation, and 64% of participants are female. Running and cycling, in which the sexual division of play is also much more equal, are not far behind. This is important because the “booming national sport” narrative appears to legitimise spending more money on football than any other sport. This means Sport England funding per participant is £38 for football, but only £8…