Swimmer's Daily

  • A former swim coach with Carmel Swim club and Carmel High School faces federal charges of child sexual exploitation and possession of child pornography after authorities say he engaged in a sexual relationship with one of the female athletes he coached.

    John Goelz, 29 of Fishers, was arrested Tuesday and on Thursday remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. His detention hearing is scheduled for July 10, the office of the U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler announced on Thursday.

    “Protecting our youth from sexual predators will always remain a top priority of this office,” said Minkler. “Those we put trust in to supervise and coach our children cannot be allowed to take advantage of them and will face tough federal prosecution.”

    Law enforcement officials on June 29 learned that Goelz might have been involved in a sexual relationship with a female minor who he coached for both the Carmel Swim Club and Carmel High School’s swim team. Goelz was an employee of Carmel Swim Club and began volunteering as an assistant swim coach with Carmel High School in the 2015-2016 school year.

    Authorities were able to determine from screenshots of text message exchanges that the relationship dated back to February 2018.

    When a detective met with a juvenile male on June 29 at the Carmel Police Department, the juvenile told him he had seen private messages on Instagram between a 17-year-old girl and Goelz that appeared to indicate Goelz and the 17-year-old were in a sexual relationship. He also told the detective that the girl had admitted to him that she was in a physical relationship with Goelz, according to court documents.

    Read WISHTV

  • AS frantic efforts to rescue 12 boys trapped in a cave in Thailand continue, one of the divers in the mission has died and two of the boys who are sick could be left behind. (more…)

  • Russia (4 titles), Hungary (3) roll on, shared gold in 100m back

    Four more Russian and three more Hungarian titles, a shared gold, three new Championship Records and a historical first-ever podium for Moldova highlighted the second day of the LEN European Junior Swimming Championships in Helsinki.

    Podium KOLESNIKOV Kliment RUS Gold Medal MARTIN Daniel-Cristian ROU Silver Medal PYLE Nicholas GBR Bronze Medal 100 Backstroke Men Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Podium ANDERSON Freya GBR Gold Medal KLEVANOVICH Elizaveta RUS Silver Medal OZBILEN Selen TUR Bronze Medal 100 Freestyle Women Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Podium ZHIGALOV Aleksandr RUS Gold Medal KALUSOWSKI Jan POL Silver Medal CORBEAU Caspar James NED Bronze Medal 200 Breaststroke Men Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Podium AVDEEVA Anastasia RUS Gold Medal ILYES Laura Vanda HUN Silver Medal SALCUTAN Tatiana MDA Bronze Medal 200 Backstroke Women Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Podium KALMAR Akos HUN Gold Medal NOERGAARD Alexander Asla DEN Silver Medal CALLONI Johannes ITA Bronze Medal 1500 Freestyle Men Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Podium Russian Federation RUS Gold Medal Team Germany GER Silver Medal Team Hungary Bronze Medal 4X100 Freestyle Mixed Relay Finals LEN 45th European Junior Swimming Championships Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre Day02 05-07-2018 Photo Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    The first final was a real stunner as Romania’s Daniel-Cristian Martin forced a tie with the absolute favourite of the event Kliment Kolesnikov to claim a shared gold. The Russian already made his name in senior waters, earned European s/c titles in Copenhagen, he holds the junior WR, still, he had to give all to catch up with his rival in the finish.

    The next two events went according to the expectations. Ajna Kesely captured her third gold in Helsinki and title No. 13 in her career – the Hungarian supergirl repeated her 2016 and 2017 triumphs in the 400m free which was rather an easy cruising than a tough race (she had made the senior World Championships final in this event last July). The Hungarians delivered in the 200m fly as well, Blanka Berecz led all the way while teammate Dora Hathazi got the bronze.

    Freya Anderson captured the second title for the Brits with a convincing swim in the 100m free, gaining 0.66sec on Russia’s runner-up Elizaveta Klevanovich. The winning margins were even bigger as Aleksandr Zhigalov claimed another gold for the Russians in the 200m breast (by 0.98) and Anastasia Avdeeva added their third one of the day (by 1.11) in the 200m back.

    The Hungarians went to even once more in the daily (3-3) and the cumulative gold standings (6-6) in their special duel with the Russians as Akos Kalmar won the 1500m with a new CR, way ahead of the field. However, the Russians had the last laugh as they touched in first in the mixed free relay. After the double in the opening day’s free relays, an easy win had been foreseen but it was much closer at the end as only 0.23sec separated them and the Germans.

    In the shadow of the RUS v HUN duel, history was in the making as Moldova could celebrate its first-ever swimming medal at the European Championships – Tatiana Salcutan captured a bronze in the 200m back, making his nations the 44th country to appear in the all-time medal standings.

    Champions, Day 2

    Men
    1500m free: Akos Kalmar 15:04.91 CR
    100m back: Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) & Daniel-Cristian Martin (ROU) 53.52 CR
    200m breast: Aleksandr Zhigalov (RUS) 2:12.47

    Women
    100m free: Freya Anderson (GBR) 54.65
    400m free: Ajna Kesely (HUN) 4:05.89 CR
    200m back: Anastasia Avdeeva (RUS) 2:09.56
    200m fly: Blanka Berecz (HUN) 2:10.06

    Mixed
    4x100m free: Russia 3:28.74
    (Kliment Kolesnikov, Andrei Minakov, Polina Nevmovenko, Elizaveta Klevanovich)

    Medal standings

    RUS 7 2 1
    HUN 6 1 3
    GBR 2 1 1
    ROU 1 0 0
    GER 0 5 1
    ITA 0 1 4
    DEN 0 1 0
    NOR 0 1 0
    POL 0 1 0
    AUT 0 0 1
    MLD 0 0 1
    NED 0 0 1
    SLO 0 0 1
    TUR 0 0 1

     

    For detailed results and free live streaming please visit www.len.eu

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Andrea Masini

  • Help us make a splash by swimming across the Bristol Channel. Don’t worry – you won’t actually have to swim shore to shore in open water! The challenge is taking place in the less cold, less salty environment of National Lido of Wales, Lido Ponty on Saturday 29th September.

  • People in Punta Gorda kicked off their Fourth of July Wednesday morning with a swim in the Peace River.

  • Rocks, waves and gusty winds greet Ross as he approaches what could be the toughest part of the swim. With only Land’s End standing in the way of him completing the South Coast leg, we join the team as they make their final preparations.

  • Congressional committees have been looking into the issue of sexual abuse in Olympic sports, with a particular focus on gymnastics. Now stories of alleged abuse are emerging in swimming. Last month, former Olympic athlete Ariana Kukors Smith sued her former coach, Sean Hutchinson, for allegedly abusing her. She also sued USA Swimming and the U.S. Olympic Committee because she says they failed to protect her.

    Today, there are more than 150 coaches on USA Swimming’s permanently banned list. Almost all are men, most of whom the organization has deemed to have violated its code of conduct, including a section that prohibits “any inappropriate sexually oriented behavior or action.”

    Chris DeSantis, a swim coach in New Jersey, says the actual number is probably much higher than the public list would suggest: “I would estimate the actual number of coaches who have done something that they should be banned for is north of 1,000.”

    Hutchison, the coach, denies Kukors Smith’s allegation. “I absolutely deny having any sexual or romantic relationship with her before she was old enough to legally make those decisions for herself. Prior to that time, I did nothing to ‘groom’ her,” Hutchison said in a statement, according to the The Seattle Times. “I deeply regret that she would make these wild allegations all these years later.”

    USA Swimming did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Earlier this year, USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey sent a letter to its members reading, in part “Let me be clear: USA Swimming does not tolerate sexual abuse or misconduct, and I assure you that this organization is facing this extremely serious issue with one very clear goal – protecting children and athletes.”

    Listen to NPR

  • Rescue workers assisted by Thai navy SEALs started teaching some members of a young soccer team and their coach how to swim and dive Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they became trapped in a cave in northern Thailand.

    The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach, have been stranded deep inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province for 12 days. They disappeared when they went exploring after a soccer game June 23 and were found by rescue divers late Monday.

    But risky conditions including volatile water levels, challenging terrain and heavy rains forecast for the weekend have complicated plans to safely extract them.

    Some of the boys do not know how to swim and flooding in the caves means the boys would likely have to dive to be able to escape, which rescue experts say could be extremely dangerous, especially for people with no experience with scuba gear.

    Read USA Today

    https://youtu.be/pwuVd_KpoV8