“Following recommendations given by FHI (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) and orders from Bergen County with regards to COVID-19 Bergen Swim Festival 2020- March 28-30th is canceled. We apologize for the cancellation, but the health of our competitors, volunteers and all involved must come first.”
In order to best protect the health and wellbeing of participants in international aquatics competitions, FINA has established a COVID-19 taskforce. Comprised of leading medical experts, the group will consider and assess the spread of COVID-19. It will consider the consequences of that spread for FINA events and efforts to safeguard participants both in terms of practical measures and communications.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, FINA has been working hard to make sure our athletes, officials, and fans are protected as much as possible,” said FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione. “All those who love Aquatics are looking forward to the competitions of Tokyo 2020. FINA is being proactive to secure the Olympic Qualifying System for our disciplines and to ensure our athletes benefit from both sporting opportunity and health protection. FINA’s long-standing focus on health means we can call on many widely-recognized experts in the medical field. We are very grateful for their time and their insights.”
The FINA taskforce will be responsible for:
The FINA taskforce is composed of the following members:
FINA continues to liaise closely with the IOC, event hosts and public health authorities. FINA encourages all event participants to continue to seek information from these reliable sources. FINA also encourages every care in adopting practical measures to safeguard health and limit the spread of COVID-19
At present, while there may be some impact on events, FINA does not anticipate changes to the overall Olympic Qualifying systems in place for its aquatic disciplines.
Press release from FINA, see www.fina.org
Donna Giffen, international Fitness Presenter, take the first-ever dip in the North Sea during International Womens Day Sunrise Swim in Portobello, Scotland.
The butterfly swimming stroke. Feared by many, the stroke that Michael Phelps made look easy – but it doesn’t need to be that hard! We break the stroke down step by step so you can incorporate butterfly into your training, and become a faster and more efficient swimmer!
Backstroke human drill is a great swimming drill aimed at improving the underwater catch phase of the backstroke technique.
In celebrating International Women’s Day (Sunday 8th March), we caught up with Mel Marshal to find out what advice National Centre Loughborough Lead Coach would hand out to women looking to follow her lead in achieving the very best at the top level of the sport. #IWD #IWD2020
Second-grader in Waterville, Bobby Perkins, is excelling in the water despite a heart condition and partial blindness.
Walking, gardening, swimming, dancing and other leisurely activities may prevent brain shrinkage in older adults, a new study finds.
To examine the association between physical activity and brain aging, researchers from Columbia University assessed activity levels of older adults and analyzed the quality of their brains via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
They found that those who were more active had larger brain volumes than their inactive counterparts, indicating that physical activity may help to slow brain volume loss, said Dr. Yian Gu, study author and assistant professor of neurological sciences at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Shrinkage of the brain typically starts around the age of 60 or 70 years, slowing processing and cognitive functions.
“Our results add to the evidence that more physical activity is linked to larger brain volume in older people,” said Gu, speaking about the research she’s presenting at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting in April.
“It also builds on evidence that moving your body more often throughout one’s life may protect against loss of brain volume.”
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