Swimmer's Daily

Category: History

  • Former Buffalo swim star confirmed dead after hot-air balloon crash

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    Read The Buffalo News The third body from a Virginia hot-air balloon crash was recovered this morning, making it a certainty that Natalie M. Lewis, a record-setting swimmer from Buffalo’s Nardin Academy, was among those who died in the disaster. Lewis, who went on to star in college competition, had been missing and presumed dead…

  • Aussie Olympic swimmers needed a history lesson

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    Read SBS Disappointing performances by Australia’s swimmers at the 2012 London Olympics might have been partly due to a poor understanding of the history and strong traditions of their predecessors. Olympic historian Harry Gordon believes a better knowledge of the spirit of Australian teams at past Games might have helped prevent the internal ruptures in…

  • Paulus Wildeboer passes away, 59 years old

    Paulus Wildeboer passes away, 59 years old

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    Yesterday evening the sad news were received that Paulus Wildeboer has died from prostate cancer. Paulus was father of Olaf and Aschwin Wildeboer, coaching in Spain for more than 25 years before becoming national head coach of Denmark, and then after London 2012 mentor coach of Swimming Queensland. A tough but excellent coach, he as…

  • David Epstein: Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?

    David Epstein: Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?

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    See TED When you look at sporting achievements over the last decades, it seems like humans have gotten faster, better and stronger in nearly every way. Yet as David Epstein points out in this delightfully counter-intuitive talk, we might want to lay off the self-congratulation. Many factors are at play in shattering athletic records, and…

  • Until Fairly Recently, The YMCA Actually Required Swimmers To Be Nude

    Until Fairly Recently, The YMCA Actually Required Swimmers To Be Nude

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    Read Vocativ Last week, I was eating lunch with a friend and her dad in Manhattan on 23rd Street, directly across from what used to be the McBurney YMCA, when my friend’s dad had a sudden recollection. Apparently, in 1968, as part of a freshman requirement for the city college he attended, all male students…

  • Manly swimmer Ernest Henry’s 1924 Paris Olympics medal haul for sale

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    Read The Telegraph He was one of the fabulous four boys from Manly who won all three of Australia’s gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics, and most of the minor ones as well. But now the family of swimmer Ernest Henry are selling his medals, largely because they can’t afford the cost of insuring…

  • Nadadores will keep swimming in Mission Viejo

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    Read Orange County Register Nearly 40 years ago,  set world records as he won two gold medals during the Olympic Games in Montreal. Monday night, Goodell came to Mission Viejo City Hall to defend the swim club that formed a mile away in his living room and helped earn him the top spot on that…

  • British Pathé – Swim At Home (1937)

    British Path̩ РSwim At Home (1937)

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    As you can read here on Open Culture, one of the leading producers of newsreels and documentaries during the 20th Century is turning over its entire collection – over 85,000 historical films – to YouTube. Including a treasure trove of fantastic swimming footage! You’ll remember the ninny who when asked if he could swim said he didn’t know…

  • Heroes of swimming: Ian Thorpe

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    Read The Guardian Despite being the son of a talented Australian cricketer, as a boy Ian Thorpe was useless at ball sports (an affliction with which Heroes of Swimming sympathises; in fact, we wonder if Ian is also a rubbish dancer). Thorpe’s older sister told him to come swimming with her instead, but he was…