Author: rokur

While other comeback swimmers are struggling with regaining form, the greatest of them all, 40-year-old Janet Evans, clocks a 4:17.27 in the women’s 400 freestyle prelims at the Austin Grand Prix this weekend, easily beating the U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 4:19.39. Read for instance The Washington Post.

Ouch, Friday the 13th for Ian Thorpe … “Matt Targett walked away with the men’s 100 free crown in 48.71 after watching Ian Thorpe continue to struggle in his return to competitive swimming during prelims. Competing in Australia for the first time since 2006, Thorpe missed making finals in the 200 free with a 13th-place 51.05, which would not have made the Top 150 in the long course rankings last year. Meanwhile, Cameron McEvoy touched second in 49.66, while James Roberts earned third in 49.77. Also on the comeback trail, Michael Klim placed seventh in 50.46 after posting a 50.15…

The Faroese flag “Merkið” in the midst of the entire swimming world’s forest of flags, outside the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai during the 14th FINA World Aquatics Championships 2011. I got to touch it for inspection, no silk expert here, but it seemed like the nicest material possible. Called Merkið or ‘The Mark’ because it was put to use during World War II, to help the Allied powers not bomb our vessels while bringing them fish from Iceland. Still lost a third of the fleet to the Nazi subs, though.

This is from back in 2010, when a couple on a yacht off the coast of South Africa had a really close encounter with a southern right whale. Suddenly the 60-ton whale jumped out of the water and crashed onto the boat. Read NYDailyNews via bleacher report’s “20 most unimaginable flukes of nature in sports”

52-year-old assistant coach Jay Elliott Goldstein of the Berkeley Preparatory School swim team has been charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography, after police found numerous videos of children 12 and younger engaged in sexual activities on his home computer. Detectives had discovered Goldstein on the internet trying to download child pornography, Goldstein himself has admitted that there was child pornography on his computer. Read Tampa Bay Online

Sigh, the Ohio landlord mentioned in December still insists that her “Public swimming pool, white only” sign is just a historical antique. She therefore wants the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to reverse its ruling from last year that it violates the Ohio Civil Rights Act by “restricting the social contact between Caucasians and African Americans as well as reinforcing discrimination actions that are aimed at oppressing all ‘people of color’.” Read more here on cnn.com

17-year-old Magnus Larson from the Danish island of Bornholm demonstrating “the dryland breaststroke turn”, as part of the ongoing ‘Can you do this?’ battle between Berns and SuSvim.

Surf N Turf San Clemente is the name of an 18-hole miniature golf course, a restaurant and a 75,000-gallon one-of-a-kind wave pool featuring sloping walls and sheets of gushing water that can be fine-tuned to support different skill levels and riding styles. “It’ll be the first real water half-pipe”, said Aaron McIntosh, a partner in the $2 million-plus project. Read The Orange County Register

Ernest Harvey Shepherd from Augusta, Georgia thought he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl when he was suggesting “skinny-dipping and lunch”, offering to bring wine coolers and to go to an Econo Lodge, before the FBI Cyber Crimes Child Exploitation Task Force finally busted him upon arrival at a prearranged location to engage in sexual acts with invented person. Parents of a 16-year-old had notified the police in May after they saw “questionable online communications” on Facebook between their daughter and Shepherd, who had met the teen while working as an official at swim meets. Resulting in investigation that identified 25…

Nice list here on TravelSupermarket, via Neatorama. Marina Bay Sands in Singapore is there, of course, with its pool stretching across the skyscrapers, and Bláa Lónið (the Blue Lagoon) in Iceland. But the one taking the price is Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, with its water slide going through a shark tank.