Swimmer's Daily

  • A Commonwealth Games swimmer raped a woman who had just had sex with his friend after she told him she wouldn’t be “passed around”, a court has heard.

    Otto Putland, 23, who represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is accused of raping the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, twice after a night out with his friends in Cardiff.

    It is claimed the defendant raped the woman at the home of his friend and Olympic swimmer Ieuan Lloyd after the latter had had consensual sex with her.

    Putland denies both counts of rape, claiming the sex between him and the complainant was also consensual.

    A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard Putland went out with Mr Lloyd and friends to Glam nightclub, in Greyfriars Road, on July 13, 2015.

    While at the club Mr Lloyd met the complainant, who met Putland for the first time that night.

    Mr Lloyd and the complainant went back to his home in Constellation Street, Adamsdown, where they had sex.

    Later on that evening Putland returned to Mr Lloyd’s home as he was due to stay there for the night and went up to his friend’s bedroom where the complainant was lying in bed.

    She claimed Putland sat on the bed and took his shoes off after Mr Lloyd had left the room, which made her feel uncomfortable.

    She later told police the defendant lay on the bed, took his clothes off, and started kissing her.

    She said she turned away and said “What are you doing? You can’t pass me around”.

    It was then claimed that Putland told the complaint “You’re not being passed around” but she again told him she did not want to have sex with him.

    Read for instance WalesOnline, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Metro, ITV, and New York Post

    Photo by ell brown

  • The number of kids learning to swim in the ACT has fallen by up to 1,000 participants, prompting safety concerns as summer approaches.

    The Royal Life Saving Society said some in-school programs have seen participation rates fall over last two years, and out of school programs have not picked up the slack.

    Royal Life Saving ACT executive director Cherry Bailey said the number of Canberra children learning to swim has fallen since 2015.

    “We are a little bit concerned that the participation rate is not what it used to be, and that’s across the board for students of all ages, but particularly in primary schools,” she said.

    [pullquote]”The big scare is the risk of drowning, and that’s what we’re all about, drowning prevention.”[/pullquote]

    Ms Bailey said swimming lessons were often overlooked as busy families try to fit in time for other hobbies and sports.

    “We’re really asking the question, ‘Is that instilling a life skill, or is that something that’s just going to be enjoyable after school?’,” she said.

    “We really want to make sure that children are being enrolled in these programs at a young age, so as they’re graduating through their childhood and into adolescence, and into a more explorative and adventurous lifestyle with less supervision … they’re going to be safe in those environments.”

    Concerns cost too much for families with multiple children

    Ms Bailey said parents have been concerned about the cost of providing swimming lessons to their children.

    “The financial burden is one of the major barriers, especially if you’ve got a family of more than just a single child,” she said.

    Ms Bailey has called for more funding to make learn-to-swim programs accessible across different age groups.

    “The Education Department generously supports the AquaSafe program, which is dedicated to year two students,” she said.

    “The fees are set at a flat rate of $50 for families, and the Government subsidises the rest.

    Read ABC

  • Marshall Osborne of Uber talks about how Uber revolutionized transportation through partnerships and how some of those ideas can help your club.

    https://youtu.be/PVn1AcZjkag

  • South Korean swimming stars Park Tae-hwan and An Se-hyeon were named honorary ambassadors for the 2019 world championships Wednesday.

    The organizing committee for the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, which take place in Gwangju, 350 kilometers south of Seoul, unveiled Park and An as their goodwill ambassadors.

    Park is the only South Korean swimmer to win an Olympic medal. He captured the 400-meter freestyle gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver in the 200m freestyle. Four years later in London, Park won silver medals in the same events.

    Park also won the world titles in the 400m freestyle in 2007 and 2011. At this year’s event — held in Budapest in July — Park ranked fourth in the 400m, eighth in the 200m and ninth in the 1,500m.

    “It’s a privilege to be an honorary ambassador for the world championships held in my home country,” Park said. “I’ll try to ensure the success of this competition.”

    Read Yonhap News

    Photo by KOREA.NET – Official page of the Republic of Korea

  • You probably couldn’t pay me to do this but travellers are loving this weird tourist attraction in Brazil where you get “swallowed” by rocks.

    Pedra Que Engole, which roughly translates to “Swallow Rock”, is a rock formation with a small waterfall above a river in Trindade, about 270km south of Rio de Janeiro.

    What you do is slide your body through a crevice between these two rocks, letting the water take you, until you disappear into a small, dark cave — as the name suggests, it looks like you are literally swallowed by the rocks.

    See news.com.au

  • Using footage from an early shoot down in Lobo Batangas, Philippines. This video was all about practicing color correction. Trying to make a uniform look. Getting colors realistic.

  • Swimmers often write to me asking if they should quit swimming. They don’t enjoy swimming as much as they used to or they have stoped improving which makes them hate swimming. I would like to tell you a story about the greatest breaststroker of our time, Adam Peaty. In an interview he said that one sunday evening at the age of 14 he realized he wanted to quit swimming, he didn’t think he could handle the two sessions a day. His mom told him to go for one more week and if at the end he didn’t like it he could stop swimming. The next week his mom told him the same thing. I guess that this continued for a couple of weeks until he realized that some days swimming is not fun. however, there are days that make it all worth it.

  • A swimmer from the UK Invictus Games team has spoken to Forces Network about the power of sport.

    It comes with the start of this year’s competition less than three weeks away.

    The last few training sessions are now taking place, with the Team UK swimmers meeting in Catterick for their final preparations.

    One of the athletes, Emma Pack, told Cath Brazier that sport gave her a huge buzz: “I never thought sport would get me back into reality again [until I tried it].

    See forces.net

  • Brazilian investigators said on Tuesday that politicians and the head of the national Olympic committee arranged a $2 million bribe to bring the 2016 games to Rio de Janeiro, despite the city having the worst conditions to host the event.

    Police in Rio raided the home of Brazil’s Olympics chief, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, after prosecutors accused him of conspiring with former state Governor Sergio Cabral, already convicted in a separate corruption case, to buy the games.

    Nuzman’s lawyer, Sergio Mazzillo, said his client was innocent. Calls to Cabral’s attorney were not returned.

    Read Reuters