Swimmer's Daily

  • If you’re a parent, you’ll most likely attend plays, pantomimes, ballet recitals, and swimming lessons of your children.

    They might not be the most riveting things to watch but they’re a big deal to kids.

    One swimming teacher who noticed that her students were left feeling dejected after lessons had a message for the parents.

    Cat Owens, an instructor from Queensland, Australia, said she’s had enough of seeing parents tap away on their phones while their kids were learning to swim for the first time.

    ‘You need to put your phone down and watch your child’s swimming lesson’ she wrote on her blog.

    ‘It makes the kids sad. They’re trying to make their parents proud of them.’

    Cat said she and other teachers were particularly upset after one incident. ‘A little boy swam the length of the pool, looked up at his dad for praise, and said, “why won’t Daddy watch me? He’s always playing on his phone”‘.

    ‘This particular boy had put in so much effort. He had listened well to the teacher, he had tried his hardest, and he just wanted his dad to be proud of him.’

    Read Metro

    Photo by JD Hancock

  • Diver Bartolomeo Bove filmed wild tiger sharks at a scarily close distance during a dive off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. He described the fish as being “not shy at all.” Tiger sharks are some of the largest predatory sharks, growing to lengths of potentially five meters.

  • Up to 90 pupils and staff from schools across West Dunbartonshire took part in open water swimming activities at Loch Lomond, which ultimately helped teach the participants about being safe in and around open water, ahead of the summer holidays.

  • Every summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention turns its attention to the disgusting state of American swimming holes — and their latest investigation traced thousands of infections back to lakes, rivers, and the ocean.

    A team of researchers analyzed 140 outbreaks that made nearly 5,000 people sick, and even killed two swimmers between 2000 and 2014. Public parks and beaches accounted for roughly two-thirds of the outbreaks, according to the CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. And the majority of those outbreaks occurred over the summer months — right when the water is most inviting.

    The most common infections the CDC turned up came from swallowing poop-tainted water. Most of them cause diarrhea — norovirus, bacterial infections like Shigella and E. coli, and parasites like Cryptosporidium were all reported. People also got itchy rashes thanks to parasites called avian schistosomes, which usually infect birds and a specific species of snail. But the worms can also wiggle into human skin and cause a rash before the misguided parasites die. And toxic algal blooms sickened swimmers in a handful of outbreaks.

    It’s not all diarrhea and rashes; two people died from infections with a brain eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri. To avoid it, the study authors say, use a nose clip to keep your nostrils shut and don’t dunk your head underwater while swimming in warm freshwater and hot springs.

    Read The Verge

     

  • The prosecution of U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte for filing a false police report during the 2016 Olympics is back on after a Brazilian court decision this week.

    During the games in Rio de Janeiro, the 12-time Olympic medalist told NBC that he and fellow swimmers were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi by men with police badges as they returned to the Olympic Village from a party. But prosecutors said Lochte invented the story to cover up the swimmers’ vandalism of a gas station and an ensuing confrontation with security guards. The confrontation was captured by surveillance cameras at the gas station.

    Lochte later acknowledged he was intoxicated at the time and his behavior led to the confrontation.

    Read Fox News

  • Rasovszky made it again, beat French world champs

    Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky won his second race in the season, just as in last year he came first in Barcelona, ahead of France’s world champions Marc-Antoine Olivier and Axel Reymond. Italy’s Aurora Ponsele won the women’s competition, ahead of Spain’s Paula Ruiz Bravo and another French world champion Aurelie Muller.

    (more…)

  • Every day in Australia, 30 people are rescued from drowning.

    And saving lives is about to get easier.

    Later this year, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, drones will be used to help rescue stranded swimmers and to spot sharks that might be getting a little too close for comfort.

    Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas reports from Mooloolaba.

    https://youtu.be/nsFLPd6gDuw

  • A smiling mermaid! Zhang Chunmei, 21, lost both her legs in a powerful earthquake that hit China’s Wenchuan in 2008. But the survivor-turned-professional swimmer says she has since learned to smile a lot.