Category: History
-
Behold the abandoned swimming pool in Pyramiden, Svalbard
Pyramiden is a ghost town on Svalbard (Norway), way north in the Atlantic Ocean, named after the nearby, pyramid-shaped mountain. A former Russian settlement and coal mining community, it was abandoned apparently in a hurry in 1998, leaving behind stuff like a “Red October” grand piano in the cultural centre auditorium, and an empty swimming…
-
Michael Phelps gets bust in swimming Hall of Fame
See NBC Sports For everybody opining on the MLB Hall of Fame, check this out from the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The ISHOF in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has a bust of Michael Phelps on display. The waiting period for induction into the ISHOF is four years, which means Phelps couldn’t be inducted until at…
-
Origins of the Australian Crawl
“From the BBC programme Faster, Higher, Stronger: Stories of the Olympic Games, a look at some early exponents of the modern freestyle swimming stroke.” http://youtu.be/FiR62H9B4E4
-
Microsoft salutes the Heroic Women of 2013, including Diana Nyad
“These heroic women show what spirit, courage, and perseverance can achieve. May their bravery inspire us in 2014 and beyond.” http://youtu.be/ZyB7bzYRoqY Image courtesy of Fortune Live Media, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
-
SwimmingWorld and SwimVortex launch petition asking FINA to recognize all victims during during the DDR Olympic Reign
See open letter and petition on change.org, plus articles on SwimmingWorld and SwimVortex On behalf of the swimming community worldwide, we are calling on FINA to recognize all victims during this dark period in Olympic history and to lobby the International Olympic Committee to take similar action. When Nelson Mandela passed away of late, his story reminded us all…
-
Fancy a ‘perishing’ swim? – ITN coverage of the 1965 Serpentine Christmas Swim
See Channel 4 Covering the news on Christmas Day is always challenging – and was equally so in 1965 when ITN sent their roving reporter John Shearer to Hyde Park to interview [and join] the regular Serpentine race swimmers.
-
First woman to swim English channel to have Manchester street named after her
Read Manchester Evening News A Manchester swimmer is to be immortalised in the name of the city’s newest road. Sunny Lowry – the first woman to swim the channel – will be celebrated as part of major regeneration work taking place around Eastlands. The Longsight -born athlete was chosen after a Dragons Den-style clash between…
-
RIP Nelson Mandela
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.†– Nelson Mandela Image courtesy of South Africa The Good News, CC BY 2.0
-
Lithuanians react to Meilutyte’s win at London 2012
A YouTube video published by the Lithuanian National Radio and Television on July 31, 2012, the day after Ruta Meilutyte won the women’s 100 meter breaststroke final at the London 2012 Olympics. Video apparently the emotions in the Lithuanian London 2012 studio. You don’t need to understand Lithuanian, to understand what they are saying :-)…