Author: rokur

Production engineer and certified swim coach. Full-time IT consultant, spare-time swimming aficionado. 2 sons, 2 daughters and a wife. President of the Faroe Islands Aquatics Federation. Likes to run :-)

Behold the Deepsea Challenger, a one-man submersible craft that in a few weeks will take filmmaker James Cameron into the deepest point in the ocean – Challenger Deep in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench – as only the third human to visit that place since Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh back in 1960. Millionaire adventurer Chris Welsh is also planning do go down there later this year, in his sexy sub “Scarlett”. National Geographic News via boingboing, follow the expedition on facebook.com/deepseachallenge

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A promo of the documentary series about Ben Lecomte’s epic swim across the Pacific Ocean this summer, being developed by Emmy Award winning producer, Doug Stanley. See thelongestswim.com

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On the 5th day of British Trials, Andrew Willis and Michael Jamieson managed to qualify for the olympics in the 200 breaststroke, with a time of 2:09.33 and 2:09.84 respectively. Ellen Gandy added 200 butterfly to her Olympic program with a time of 2:06.01, and Jemma Lowe also qualified in this event with a 2:06.37. Read more here on SwimmingWorld Magazine.

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The British government has rejected advice from the British Olympic Association’s chief medical officer that athletes should now shake hands at the London Games to avoid germs that could make them sick. Government health advisers seemed perplexed by the guidelines, which Olympic hopefuls derided as “rude” and “pointless”. Team GB is also distancing itself from the doctor’s advice, see for instance MercuryNews. [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/TeamGB/status/177006973303263234″]

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A week before the Australian Olympic trials, Thorpe has told Australia’s Network Ten that he doesn’t have high expectations of making the team after modest results in lead-up event. “The most realistic outcome of this is that I will most likely fail. … I wish I had another six months to do this,” he said in the television interview. Hackett is also starting to doubt whether Thorpe can do it, saying his best chances are in the 4×200 relay. Via CBC Sports

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Janek Lisewski, 42, a kite surfing champion from Poland, was two-thirds of the way through a 124-mile trip between Egypt and Saudi Arabia when the wind died down and deflated his kite. He survived by drinking energy drinks and two energy bars. He used a knife to fend off sharks. “I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose and gills,” Lisewski told Polish state news agency PAP. Read WorldNews on msnbc.com

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