Swimmer's Daily

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    A very common issue that I see in freestyle is bad breathing habits. Watch this video to work on improving the technique and timing of your breath in freestyle

  • Read for instance Yahoo! Sports

    The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has recommended that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) ban all Russian athletes, regardless of sport, from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

    The IOC said in a statement that it “will now carefully study the complex and detailed allegations.” It has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss and decide on the participation of Russian athletes in the upcoming Olympics.

    “The findings of the report show a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in the statement. “Therefore, the IOC will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organisation implicated.”

    See also WADA’s official press release:

    The WADA Executive Committee’s key recommendations based on the McLaren Investigation Report are set out below. The necessary decisions should be taken by the relevant organizations based on their own rules and regulations.

    1. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to consider, under their respective Charters, to decline entries, for Rio 2016, of all athletes submitted by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Paralympic Committee.
    2. The International Federations (IFs) from sports implicated in the McLaren Report to consider their responsibilities under the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) as far as their Russian National Federations (NFs) are concerned.
    3. Russian government officials to be denied access to international competitions, including Rio 2016.
    4. The Russian National Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to remain non-compliant under the Code and its staffing and independence to be further reviewed by WADA.
    5. The accreditation process of the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow (Moscow laboratory) to be stopped.
    6. The FIFA Ethics Committee to look into allegations concerning football and the role played by a member of its Executive Committee, Minister Vitaly Mutko.
    7. Professor McLaren and his team to complete their mandate provided WADA can secure the funding that would be required.

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  • IOC meeting Tuesday to discuss sanctions; WADA recommends full Rio ban

    An independent investigation led by a Canadian law professor has confirmed evidence of widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russian sports, further fuelling calls for a full ban on the country from next month’s Rio Olympics.

    Richard McLaren of Western University in London, Ont., released his findings today at news conference in Toronto, saying labs in Moscow and Sochi protected Russian athletes.

    In short, Russia’s deputy minister of sports, who was also part of Russia’s Olympic Committee, would direct workers at Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory of which positive samples to send through and which to hold back. Assisting the plan was Russia’s national security service — the FSB, the current version of the Soviet Union’s KGB.

    McLaren said Russia’s cheating program, which he dubbed the “disappearing positive methodology,” lasted from 2011 — shortly after Russia’s disappointing showing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics — through at least last year’s world swimming championships in Kazan, Russia. His timeframe includes the 2013 track and field world championships in Moscow.

    McLaren said out of 577 positive sample screenings, 312 positive results were held back — or labeled “Save”‘ by the lab workers — but that was only a “small slice” of the data that could have been examined. More than 240 of the 312 “Saves”‘ came from track and field and wrestling, but other sports involved included swimming, rowing, snowboarding — and even table tennis.

    Read CBC Sports

    Russian_Doping

    https://youtu.be/2-01_CDZ13k

  • He started swimming aged six, and, 13 years later, Joshua Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza will represent Uganda at the forthcoming Olympics games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The teenager is Uganda’s overall fastest male swimmer having set two national records at last year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia. The 19-year-old achieved a personal best of 25.54 seconds in the 50 metres freestyle and a flat 33 seconds in the 50 metres breaststroke. He will compete only in the 50 metres free in Rio, but does not expect to end up on the podium.

  • Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres on not coming out of retirement and how she feels about her quickly approaching 50th birthday.

  • Olympic swimming legend Mark Spitz was nearly in the movie “Jaws,” as he revealed on the “Today” show this week.

    The seven-time gold medal winner said he met with director Steven Spielberg, took acting lessons and screen-tested for a role in the popular shark thriller. Unfortunately for him, the part he tested for eventually went to Richard Dreyfuss.

    “Everything was great, but it was so close to the Olympics they couldn’t get over the idea that I was still going to be Mark Spitz, that the transcending of who I was as an athlete into the movies was too great,” he said.

    By the time the movie premiered, the role had changed. When Spitz read for the part, his character was supposed to be eaten by the shark.

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