Swimmer's Daily

  • Dave Hughes’ opening Logies speech was peppered with awkward ‘ooo’s from the audience after he bridged some rather controversial topics.

    One that truly divided the crowd was his handling of Grant Hackett.

    Addressing the embattled swimming star’s recent troubles, Hughes said, “Grant Hackett, ‘Oh I’m going to rehab again’, well listen this time, right!”

    “I love Grant Hackett, he’s a great Australian but he’s being a bit whingey.

    “Did you see on Instagram he put a selfie of himself with a black eye and said, ‘look what my brother did’. That’s what brothers do Grant, you bloody be a d**k and they give you a clip!”

    See Yahoo!

  • With the fourth and final leg of the Diving World Series 2017 circuit completed in Windsor, Canada, last weekend (April 21-23), China climbes atop all individual and synchronised events in the overall rankings.

    Chinese divers maintained an impressive and consistent form throughout the Series season, and swept 37 of 40 gold medals up for grab.

    In Windsor’s leg only, every Chinese athlete who competed claimed at least a medal except the pair competing in the men’s 3m synchronised event.

    China’s Xie Siyi leads the men’s 3m (66 points), while teammate Chen Aisen is the best in the 10m (72). The latter is followed by Yang Hao with 10 points less, 62, and Great Britain’s Tom Daley ranks third with 58 points.

    Compatriot and Olympic champion Jack Laugher comes second in the 3m with 64 and Cao Yuan (CHN) third with 60.

    Veteran Shi Tingmao leads the women’s 3m board with 72, in front of Australia’s Maddison Keeney (54) and Canada’s Jennifer Abel (50).

    Si Yajie closes the almost perfect Chinese supremacy with the best position in the women’s 10m ranking (70). Behind her is Ren Qian (CHN, 64) and Meaghan Benfeito (CAN, 46).

    Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Malaysia and Mexico, not to mention them all, were other strong nations with great results across the four meets.

    Check out the details results of each leg and the news reports on FINA website.

    You can also watch video highlights of the competition on our Youtube playlist and re-watch the competition on FINA TV

    Press release from FINA

  • Olympic bronze medalist and two-time world champion, Lotte Friis, has announced her retirement from the sport of swimming.

    (more…)

  • Intex has created the InflataBULL, an challenging inflatable bull riding pool float for brave friends and family members to enjoy for hours. The durable vinyl pool toy is available to purchase from Amazon.

    See Laughing Squid

    https://youtu.be/FAU2BYnfDcs

  • Find out about a day in the life of a world record holder and Olympic champion swimmer, Loughborough University-based Adam Peaty.

  • I kid you not, see Neatorama and Kimoji

    Kim Kardashian’s posterior has arguably become more famous than the woman herself, and it’s virtually impossible to read about Kim K. without some wiseacre commenting on the size of her rear end.

    This fact is not lost on Kim, so she has decided to embrace the attention and use her company Kimoji to capitalize on her famous assets- by selling pool floats shaped like her butt.

  • Alex Marshall is a professional college swimmer who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her swimming was never effected before her diagnosis, that’s why everyone was surprised when she learned she had cancer. In an interview about her experience, Marshall stated, “I was thrown into the spotlight of ‘cancer girl,’ and I wasn’t quite ready for that. I didn’t really want that…” Still Marshall persevered her disease and after she finished her chemotherapy treatment, she went back to swimming.

    https://youtu.be/ItN1y0O6Rls

    See also CNN

    Alex Marshall was a freshman in college when she had her first cancer scare.

    Intense chest pain and difficulty breathing were serious alarms for the swimmer at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina. Her training came to a halt when she ended up in the hospital — for 10 days.

    With the hallmark symptoms of a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis, Marshall and her family feared the worst, but doctors determined that a severe case of mononucleosis was the cause of her problems.

    “I was released from the hospital, and I was like, ‘OK, we dodged a bullet. It wasn’t cancer,’ ” said Marshall, now 22. The mass in her chest that was causing her pain and other symptoms was covered in the highly contagious Epstein-Barr virus, best known as the cause of mononucleosis.

    Two years later, while pursuing a more rigorous academic schedule and training for the Canadian Olympic trials through dual citizenship on her father’s side, Marshall began to notice more breathing problems and what seemed like a lingering cold.

    “I just played it off, because I was getting cold-like symptoms, and then I would just get over it. And it would come back again two to three weeks later. I dealt with that all of summer.”

    Come fall, the familiar pain in her chest returned.

  • Former Brazilian Aquatic Sports Confederation (CBDA) President Coaracy Nunes has been arrested as part of an inquiry into the alleged misuse of public funds.

    The 78-year-old had already been removed from his post at the head of the governing body in October following an investigation by the Federal Police and Public Ministry.

    Nunes, however, remains on the International Swimming Federation (FINA) ruling Bureau.

    According to ESPN Brazil, Nunes was arrested along with CBDA financial director Sergio Ribeiro and water polo technical coordinator Ricardo Cabral.

    Each are accused of “over-billing, diverting public funds and embezzlement”.

    The arrests specifically relate to the alleged misuse of around BRL$40 million (£10 million/$12 million/€11.6 million).

    According to UOL Esporte a kit contract with a company called Pro Swim is also being examined.

    It is alleged equipment, including backpacks and medicine balls, were purchased through the contract at up to three times higher than the market price.

    Lawyer Gustavo Licks has been appointed interim head of the CBDA until the investigation is resolved.

    Read Inside the Games

  • FINA has proposed expanding the swimming program to 42 events for the Tokyo Olympic Games, according to a report from InsideTheGames. The proposed lineup would include adding the 50s of each stroke, the men’s 800 and women’s 1500 free and mixed 400 free and 400 medley relays to the current schedule of 32 events.

    The addition of those events would bring the Olympic swimming schedule to match that of the biannual FINA World Championships. FINA introduced the 50s of stroke and the non-Olympic distances to its signature meet in 2001, and mixed relays were added in 2015.

    These additions are just some of the more than 25 possible events various international federations have proposed adding to the Olympic schedule. There were 306 events contested in Rio, but according to InsideTheGames writer Nick Butler, the IOC is hopeful to keep the total number of events at or under 310.

    Therefore, it’s not likely the IOC will accept all of FINA’s recommendations for swimming, particularly with so many other recommendations on the table. This is not the first time FINA has proposed the additional events—prior to the 2016 Games, FINA proposed 40 events for Rio, but that suggestion was denied.

    Read Swimming World and Inside the Games

    Photo by wuestenigel