Author: rokur

Fun memories from the Rome 2009 World Aquatics Championships. Birita wanted one of those brand new Jaked supersuits, so we arrived at about 8 in the morning only to find out when the shop opened at 10 that they didn’t have size 20 nor 22. The day before we had been too far back in line to have any chance of getting a suit, so the next day we woke at 6 and went almost straight to the pool by taxi, in order to be first in line. It worked. By the way, I’m the guy with the computer, killing…

Scarcely anyone outside the East Midlands can point to Loughborough on a map, but if the Loughborough University were a country, with past and present students its citizens, it would have come fifth at the last Commonwealth Games – ahead of South Africa – in terms of its 44 medals won. Loughborough Swimming head coach Ben Titley has seen 12 Loughborough swimmers qualify for London already – among them Liam Tancock, a world-record holder in 50m backstroke.Its students have won the British Universities & Colleges Sport championship for 30 years running, sometimes finishing with more than double their closest rival’s…

Behind the scenes with NSWIS athlete Jayden Hadler on his journey to the 2012 London Olympic Games, who qualified yesterday in the 200 IM. Mmm, jellyfish soup.

Tough talk but spot on talk by the true great: “After reading his quote when he said he thought he was going to fail, right there the trials didn’t even need to happen,” Phelps told USA TODAY on Tuesday after a completing a cross-training workout at Under Armour headquarters in Baltimore. “He was already set on not making the team, and that’s not the Ian Thorpe that I swam against in 2004.” Read more here on USA Today

James Magnussen’s former footy coach has revealed that the devastation of losing the under-16s grand final after the siren convinced the towering second-rower to ditch league and concentrate on swimming. Having juggled swimming as a “bit of cross training for footy” and studying for his HSC, Mayo said Magnussen was a late bloomer in the pool. Until that dreadful day. Having gone undefeated all season, the Sharks were four points ahead of the Foster Hawks at the siren when the ref called for a scrum. The Sharks won the feed and their lock scooped the ball from the back of…

Brett Hawke, the head coach of Auburn University’s swimming and diving program, has been named by the Bahamas Swimming Federation as the head coach for the Bahamas’ swim team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. Bahamiam sprinter Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, who has been training under Hawke for the past three and a half years, says having her college coach by her side will assist greatly in her push toward a historic performance in London. Read more here in The Nassau Guardian.

Cool, wish I understood the language, and their qualification system :-) Via video.eurosport.fr

At the French Nationals today, Camille Muffat posted a 1:55.40 textile best and French record in the 200 meter freestyle semifinals, while Yannick Agnel scorched the men’s event with an also French record of 1:44.42. Amaury Leveaux also qualified in the 200 with a time of 1:46.77, while Gregory Mallet and Clement Lefert qualified for the relay with also under FINA A standard times of 1:46.77 and 1:46.90. Laure Manaudou qualified in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.16, and Alexianne Castel also with a time of 1:00.56. And in the men’s 100 backstroke, Camille Lacourt and Ben Stasiulius…

While most of the comeback stories have fizzled this year at the Australian Trials, Libby Trickett managed to qualify for the 4×100 relay. Melanie Schlanger and Cate Campbell took the individual spots in 53.85 and 54.01, while Brittany Elmsie, Yolane Kukla, and Alicia Coutts took the other relay spots. In the men’s 200 backstroke, Mitch Larkin and Matson Lawson qualified in 1:57.90 and 1:58.32, in the men’s 200 IM Daniel Tranter and Jayden Hadler with a 1:58.19 and 1:58.99, and in the women’s 200 breaststroke Tessa Wallace and Sally Foster with 2:26.31 and 2:26.51 respectively. Read more here on Swimming…

Interesting concept here: NCSA Junior National Swimming Championships Tuesday, March 20 – Saturday, March 24 Price: $24.95 Ustream is proud to present live coverage of the NCSA Junior Nationals live from Orlando, FL! PPV ticket buyers will get front-row access to see 1500 competitors aged 18 and under competing under Olympic trial standards.