Swimmer's Daily

  • Watch the Olympic champion dominate at the Phillips 66 National Championships, part of the Team USA Champions Series, presented by Xfinity.

  • Xiao Tang, a 19-year-old sophomore at a college in Chongqing, China, was not used to exercise. This, combined with an apparent competitive streak, led to her being hospitalized when she got into an exercise fight on a video chat with an equally competitive friend.

    “This is too embarrassing to say. I was chatting with [my friend] in Guandong over the Internet,” Xiao told China Press from the hospital. At some point, the two girls got into a squat contest to determine who had the most stamina.

    “We both did not want to lose and so we kept trying to beat each other,” she explained. Neither of them willing to back down and stop squatting first, they both ended up doing over 1,000 squats.

    After they both finally gave in after 2-3 hours of non-stop squats, they hung up, sore but unconcerned. They had just done an absurd amount of squatting, so a little soreness was not at all worrying to either of them. This, however, did not last long.

    “Something was wrong in the morning,” Xiao told China Press.

    “First of all, my leg was not only sore, but I couldn’t bend it. Then I went to the bathroom and [my] urine was brown.”

    She knew, as most people could hazard a guess, that this was not a great sign, and sought medical treatment.

    In hospital, she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition caused by skeletal muscle injury. Dead muscle fibers – in this case, due to extreme levels of exercise – are released into the bloodstream, which can lead to serious complications such as kidney failure and death. Her body unable to remove waste, Xiao’s urine became tea-colored.

    Read IFLScience

     

  • Swimmers at Caeleb Dressel’s home pool in Jacksonville, where his records first started, said they hope to follow in the Olympian’s footsteps.

  • Alexey Molchanov is a multiple world record holding freediver and co-founder of the Molchanovs, a freediving education system: https://molchanovs.com/

    They also develop freediving equipment – the suit and the fins he wears are all by Molchanovs. When Alexey is not training, teaching or developing new products, he likes to explore underwater and take photos. Here he is playing around in Lighthouse, Dahab, a popular freediving destination in Egypt.

    Music is “Beyond here” by Salt of the Sound.

  • We’ve told you about Aussie swimmer, Shayna Jack, who’s facing a possible drug ban. She tested positive for a banned substance but says she has no idea how it happened. Jack says it can be found in contaminated supplements. While her manager reckons it might have been in something she ate. So, let’s take a closer look.

    Ligandrol the banned substance found in Shayna Jack’s drug test. Is supposed to help grow muscle and treat osteoporosis but professional athletes aren’t allowed to take it. Shayna says she could have come into contact with it through a contaminated supplement. Supplements are everywhere and they’re used by all kinds of people, not just athletes, to help with things like performing better, building muscle or recovery after a big workout. But, the Australian Sport Anti-doping Authority says many contain substances that pro athletes are banned from taking because they’re unsafe or give them an unfair advantage. And sometimes, those ingredients might not be written on the label so it’s best to avoid them. Shayna Jack is meeting with ASADA on Friday so hopefully we’ll get some more answers.

  • We all know the warning: wait an hour after eating before going swimming, or else you might drown. Turns out, it’s a myth. We take a look at the history behind the ‘death by cramp’ precaution. Only A Game reporter Karen Given(@klgiven) has the story.

    Listen to 90.9 WBUR

    Photo by Bluenose Canoehead

  • A former Hungarian swimming executive was charged Tuesday with ordering a deadly hit on a business rival in Budapest over two decades ago.

    Tamas Gyarfas, who was former vice president of the Lausanne-based International Swimming Federation’s Bureau, denied the charges when he was first detained back in April 2018. He was then released from jail on bail.

    Gyarfas’s lawyer Peter Zamecsnik said the latest charges are “absurd,” adding that “based on the investigation material I reviewed, the case will probably fail in court,” according to Reuters.

    Hungarian media mogul Janos Fenyo was murdered back in 1998 after getting sprayed with submachine gun bullets in his car at a stoplight in Budapest. It was one of the more shocking killings in Hungary during the turbulent 1990s following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

    Read for instance Fox News and Reuters

  • Swimmer Strength Tech Tip: Swimmers are constantly performing dryland exercises poorly, because they are being asked to do movements without the appropriate underlying physical strength to execute them safely and effectively. Presented by Swimmer Strength Coach Deniz Hekmati

  • Is ligandrol legal? Can atletes use it? What is it? This video briefly covers what is ligandrol, and focuses on its legality (or lack thereof). In short, it is not legal, and should not be used. The evidence in relation to its use and side effects is still preliminary and particularly buying it from suppliers could be hazardous.

    This has recently become an issue with the Shayna Jack issue, in which she tested positive to Ligandrol. This video highlights why it is banned.

    https://youtu.be/WG2mikNQUx8