Swimmer's Daily

  • The Great British Swim isn’t all sunshine and dolphins. This week Ross enters the dark zone and gives us a first-hand account of what swimming in the dead of night is really like, and brings us face-to-face with the creatures that lurk there.

  • A heat wave scorching Japan is raising questions about timing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics during July and August, typically the annual peak for temperatures and humidity, and the health risks that might pose for athletes and spectators.

    When Tokyo first hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, they were held during the cooler, drier month of October. The 1968 Mexico City games were also held in October.

    But most Summer Olympics for the past three decades have been held in July or August, recognized as an ideal time window for TV networks to cover the event.

    They pay billions of dollars for broadcasting rights during these months when the global sports calendar is otherwise light, increasing the chances of capturing a bigger audience.

    Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports, which broadcast the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics in the United States, said “the IOC is well aware of American network preferences for the timing of the Summer and Winter games,” referring to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

    “The Summer Olympics are simply of less value if held in October because of pre-existing program commitments for sports,” he told Reuters.

    Read Reuters

  • Ah, the hard memories

    We competed at the 2015 European Games in Baku,” Joensen remembers. “And we were not allowed to use the Faroe flag. Instead we had to compete as LEN (Ligue Européenne de Natation) and were given tee-shirts with no flag, just plain blue with our name. And when we were introduced our name was read out with no nationality. It felt like a punishment because we wanted to show where we came from but we did not have the chance. We were from nowhere.

    Read The Independent

    The images are my own, showing our fancy no-name team uniforms

  • Title-holder Serbs to meet host Spain in the final

    Serbia made its 4th straight final at the European Water Polo Championships, and this is going to be the Olympic champions’ 8th final in the past 9 editions (since 2001). They beat the world champion Croatian team in an enormous physical battle. Spain arrives from the other semi, the hosts halted Italy’s fine run in a tense fight which saw fantastic twists before the Spaniards could win by a single goal and reach their second ever gold medal match at the Europeans after 1991.

    Team Italy ESP – ITA Spain (white caps) vs Italy (blue caps) Semi Final Men Barcelona 26/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    LENWP_Barcelona_2018/G.Scala-DBMedia
    2 BRGULJAN Drasko MNE HUN – MNE Hungary (white caps) vs Montenegro (blue caps) Men Barcelona 26/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Semifinal 5-8 place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    2 BRGULJAN Drasko MNE HUN – MNE Hungary (white caps) vs Montenegro (blue caps) Men Barcelona 26/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Semifinal 5-8 place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    4 ZALANKI Gergo HUN, 9 IVOVIC Aleksandar MNE HUN – MNE Hungary (white caps) vs Montenegro (blue caps) Men Barcelona 26/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Semi Final 5th-8th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Supporters SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs Croatia (blue caps) Semi Final Men Barcelona 26/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    9 STAMM Marko W GER 11 KOOPMAN Jesse AR NED NED – GER Netherlands (white caps) vs. Germany (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Final 9th – 10th Place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    GER – Team Germany NED – GER Netherlands (white caps) vs. Germany (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Final 9th – 10th Place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    9 JAKSIC Nikola CB SRB 5 JOKOVIC Maro W CRO SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs. Croatia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinal 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    1 PIJETLOVIC Gojko GK SRB 10 FILIPOVIC Filip (C) W SRB SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs. Croatia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinal 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    12 GARCIA GADEA Javier FP CRO 11 PRLAINOVIC Andrija W SRB SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs. Croatia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinal 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    5 JOKOVIC Maro W CRO SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs. Croatia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinal 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    SRB – Serbia Team SRB – CRO Serbia (white caps) vs. Croatia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinal 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    9 TAHULL I C. Roger ESP celebration ESP – ITA Spain (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Italian players argue with referee I giocatori italiani protestano con l’arbitro ESP – ITA Spain (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    10 PERRONE R. Felipe ESP celebration ESP – ITA Spain (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    10 BODEGAS Michael ITA ESP – ITA Spain (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    GRE Coach VLACHOS Theodoros GRE – RUS Greece (white caps) vs. Russia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 5th 8th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    5 FOUNTOULIS Ioannis GRE 3 ANDRYUKOV Stepan RUS GRE – RUS Greece (white caps) vs. Russia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 5th 8th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    9 BYCHKOV Igor RUS GRE – RUS Greece (white caps) vs. Russia (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Semifinals 5th 8th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    6 VERNOUX Thomas FRA ROU – FRA Roumania (white caps) vs. France (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Final 11th 12th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    8 GUILLAUME Dino FRA ROU – FRA Roumania (white caps) vs. France (blue caps) Barcelona 26/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men Final 11th 12th place 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    Eleven 2016 Olympic champions versus eleven 2017 world champions: the first semi between Serbia and Croatia promised the very best of entertainment. And it didn’t disappoint the water polo fans though sometimes the encounter was even tougher than usual.

    The heavyweight bombers didn’t give too much chances for the goalies in the first period, huge blasts hit the back of the net, the Serbs were more precise and gained a 5-3 lead. The defences got tightened at both ends – after the 8-goal opening period, the remaining three saw 8 goals altogether – which also meant some extra toughness and a couple of unnoticed punches fired up the sides even though the battle was heated enough already. After a ‘special’ entangling a double red card was supposed to calm down the teams but it took some time when play began dominating again. The game was virtually decided in the third when the Croats, beating the Serbs on the last three occasions, missed three man-ups in a row, thus instead of coming back to one goal, soon they found themselves three down (7-4). And even if they pulled one back late in the third, always the Serbs scored first in the fourth as well, they were cool enough to put away the ball in the crucial moments and deserved to reach their fourth consecutive final, the 8th in 9 editions (since 2001 they only missed the 2010 final).

    The second semi was even more thrilling, as temperamental as any Mediterranean derby can be. Deep into the second period Spain seemed to catch the Italians at 4-1, they broke the toughest defence of the tournament while Dani Lopez delivered one save after the other in the locals’ goal. The Italians looked a bit bewildered upon facing their first real test after demolishing each rivals in their previous matches. However, two late goals by Vincenzo Renzuto brought them back to life, what’s more they began to play as in the past matches and soon they were in the lead. Francesco di Fulvio enjoyed a fantastic spell, he netted a hat-trick, his third put Italy 5-7 up with 6:53 to go. Spain, enjoying the backing of the crowd, could react the best possible way, though: ending an almost 12-minute drama which saw Italy’s 1-6 run, they quickly equalised in a span of 70 seconds (which also included a missed shot from di Fulvio in a man-up – add: Italy’s other hero, goalie Marco de Lungo, who posted an 84.0% saving percentage in the previous games, 93.3 against Russia, this evening dropped to 50.0%)

    After 7-7, Italy got three, Spain two more man-ups, missed all amid high tensions, than came the big moment… Francisco Fernandez swam 20 metres with the ball, the others cleared his way and he drove himself close to the goal and finished the counter with a brilliant shot for 8-7: 94 seconds from time Spain led again. And they held on, since the ball was stopped by Lopez in the last Italian man-up. It wasn’t absolutely clear, whether it crossed the line or not, the goal-judge didn’t sign anything, and Spain began celebrating. For the second time after 1991, they made the European Championships final, and their first gold medal match since the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Just to recall history: they faced Serbia in that encounter, like now.

    In the other games of the day, one goal decided in the battles of Hungary and Montenegro and then Greece and Russia – Montenegro and Greece prevailed and can play for the 5th place, while Hungary is facing to claim its second worst placement in history (their 9th was the all-time low in 1989). Germany clinched the 9th place (was 11th in 2016) with a fine victory over the Netherlands (improved from 12th), while Romania (10th) came 11th by beating France (dropped from 9th).

    European Water Polo Championships, Day 13

    Men’s semi-finals
    Serbia v Croatia 9-7
    Italy v Spain 8-7

    For places 5-8th
    Hungary v Montenegro 6-7
    Greece v Russia 12-11

    For places 9-10th
    Netherlands v Germany 11-12

    For places 11-12th
    Romania v France 10-6

    Fixtures Day 14

    Women’s final
    22.00 Netherlands v Freece

    Bronze medal match
    20.30 Hungary v Spain

    For places 5-6th
    18.15 Italy v Russia

    For places 7-8th
    16.45 Germany v France

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Giorgio Scala

  • Canadian Olympic Medallist and World Champion swimmer Brent Hayden, along with his wife, Lebanese/Canadian singer/songwriter Nadina Zarifeh, break into the activewear market by offering a new line for men and women that will help fund local Olympic journeys.

    Stemming from the Latin phrase “Ad Astra Per Aspera” (to the stars through challenge) Astra Athletica creates high quality activewear to be a vessel to serve as a daily reminder to keep chasing your dreams while supporting dreams at the same time.

    The collection of men’s and women’s activewear is currently helping 9 inspirational Canadian athletes fuel their Olympic and Paralympic dreams through a sustainable approach to athletic sponsorship called the #ASTRA10for10 program. When customers shop at Astra Athletica, they have a chance to sponsor an athlete directly with their purchase. By selecting an athlete, Astra will give that athlete 10% commission and the customer will receive a 10% discount off their order. Customers can also get to know the athletes by reading their inspirational stories before choosing which athlete they want to support. Our complete list of athletes is available on our website: https://www.astraathletica.com/pages/our-athletes

    “My Olympic journey would never have been possible without the support I received along the way,” said Brent Hayden. “Growing into a national level athlete, suddenly there were more expenses that my parents just couldn’t afford on their own. I know that if I didn’t receive the support when I did, I would have had no choice but to leave my sport and I never would have become a World Champion or Olympic Medallist. I created this program to make sure our athletes get the same opportunities I had to chase their dreams.”

    Read GlobeNewsWire and visit Astra Athletica

    https://youtu.be/pKZNwDPnS34

  • Watch day four heats of the British Summer Championships live from the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.

  • The annual Chincoteague Pony Swim on Virginia’s Eastern Shore happened Wednesday morning, when hundreds of ponies are moved from one island to another.

  • In 2 years, the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will take place and — the entire city is going to fry! That’s right — the 1964 Summer Games were held in October to avoid the heat of Japanese summer and typhoon season. Did the committee make a mistake scheduling the 2020 Games in the middle of Japanese summer? What do you think? How can we avoid thousands of people from being dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke? Hotels will be packed, travelers spending the day away from their rooms as they have to travel distances to get to venues. Not only will the Olympics crossover with the summer vacation crowd, the world press will be here, the athletes and international leaders. I have a feeling we will be okay but this is more of a challenge than anyone realizes and I’ll tell you why.

  • Watch day three finals of the British Summer Championships live from the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.