Swimmer's Daily

  • Michael Phelps, “Save Water” ambassador and Olympic gold medalist, talks about his hope to inspire people to turn off the faucet and save water, and dealing with the mental pressure after participating in extreme competition.

  • Freediver and tech entrepreneur Jeremy Stephan will announce the formation of the U.S. Freediving Federation (USFF) at the CMAS General Assembly Meeting in Phuket Thailand this week.

    Started in 1959 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and recognized by the International Olympic Committee and UNESCO, CMAS comprises over 130 federations including the United States as one of the charter members. CMAS is a prestigious organization dedicated to the development of all underwater activities and sport disciplines on a worldwide basis.

    As the youngest member of the CMAS family, the USFF is happy to help continue the legacy started by Mr. Cousteau by offering its members unprecedented education, support and resources while aiming increase a greater visibility and understanding of the sport.

    “I couldn’t find much support in the U.S. Most people in the U.S. don’t know anything about freediving,” says Stephan. “There are very few competitions here, and no programs or organizations that are helping to build awareness and community. This is what I want to affect and change. I want to inspire and help make this sport understood, attainable and approachable. I want everyone else after me in the U.S. to have a support system to learn, train, go on adventures and compete. While the experience will be different for everyone, the benefits that can be gained are many and life changing.”

    Read Digital Journal

     

    Photo by jayhem

  • Durban-born Chad le Clos, the most decorated swimmer at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia, is returning to South Africa to pursue a dream.

    On Friday, he will launch the Chad Le Clos Academy (CLeC) at the Quadrant Complex in Claremont, Cape Town.

    With a total of 17 career gold medals to his name, three of which have been bagged at this month’s Games in Gold Coast, Le Clos has his sights set on opening a “world-class” swimming academy.

    It will focus on training young children to swim and, ultimately, pursue the path to Olympic greatness.

    Le Clos, who now lives in Cape Town, hopes to expand the academy to other provinces throughout South Africa.

    Read IOL

    (a video from one year ago)

  • Not only was Johnson the first ever African American woman to compete for Team USA in water polo, she was crowned tournament MVP in Rio.

  • Sophie McAfee competed at her first senior national at age 12, and since then has continued to pursue her dreams of representing the USA at the Olympics in diving! Hear from Sophie as she looks ahead to her first appearance at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires.

  • In this reel, we stay afloat with stories of five incredible swimmers. We make our way through the Mississippi River with a former Navy SEAL, meet a synchronized swimmer smashing stereotypes, and get our adrenaline pumping with a champion cliff diver.

  • Scottish athletes return to Glasgow from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Among them was swimmer Duncan Scott who won a record six medals at one Games.

  • When Hungarian media tycoon Janos Fenyo was gunned down in his car by a dozen submachine gun bullets in downtown Budapest two decades ago it shocked the country and police never found who ordered the murder.

    Now police have detained Tamas Gyarfas, an executive at world swimming’s governing body, on suspicion of ordering the murder, state news agency MTI said on Tuesday.

    It was not possible to reach Gyarfas by telephone and there was no immediate comment from the International Swimming Federation (FINA), whose office was closed. Gyarfas is one of FINA’s eight-member executive, according to the body’s website.

    Fenyo, who was killed at a stop light on Feb. 11, 1998, owned a portfolio of newspapers and magazines and a television network.

    Read Reuters and Daily News Hungary

    https://youtu.be/EEGC3UaAZUI

  • Few swimmers have a greater understanding of how to tease the best performance out of themselves than Aimee Willmott, who has written an academic paper on the subject.

    Willmott’s dissertation, published in the European Journal of Sport Science, considers the effect clothing worn between a warm-up and competition can have on performance. She concludes that wearing the right garb can give a 0.59% boost in performance, which may not sound significant but in a sport such as swimming the finest margins decide medals.

    Accordingly, Willmott touched the wall only 0.26sec ahead of Hannah Miley to claim one of Team England’s six gold medals on the opening day of the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.

    On a humid evening at the Optics Aquatics Centre, Willmott followed her own advice and togged up until the last possible moment before the 400m medley final. “I did five years of uni and finished last year and did my study based on how hot you are before you swim determining how fast you swim,” said Willmott, who graduated with a degree in sport and exercise science from the University of East London. “I practise what I preach. I dressed up really warm and was so hot before with the nerves and the crowd combined.”

    Read The Guardian