Swimmer's Daily

  • Although Olympic champions can make great role models, sports officials can’t expect all athletes to be angels in their pursuit of results, according to Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe.

    The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has taken a hard line on team culture at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, four years after their London Games delegation was embarrassed by a number of unsavoury incidents involving misbehaving athletes.

    Several athletes have been put on watch-list ahead of the Games, while the country’s top tennis player Nick Kyrgios withdrew himself from consideration after a row with the AOC over his behaviour in the public arena.

    Thorpe was a paragon of sportsmanship during a glittering swimming in which he won five Olympic golds and 11 world titles but said it was tough to expect all athletes to match sporting excellence with impeccable conduct.

    “I prefer them to be good leaders but it’s not a requirement,” Thorpe told Reuters in an interview. “We want them to be good role models, we want everyone to be perfect.

    “But what happens if the athlete isn’t perfect but they get the results? Which one’s more important? This is really difficult and it’s a difficult position for sports to be in.”

    Read Reuters

  • From age group swimmers to Olympians, even Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky came from humble beginnings.

  • Olympic leaders called for drug-testing of individual Russian and Kenyan athletes across all sports, warning Tuesday that evidence of inadequate doping controls in those countries could lead to more teams being barred from the Rio de Janeiro Games.

    At the same time, the international sports officials also opened the door to some Russia track and field athletes competing under their own flag — not as neutral athletes — in Rio.

    Read Mashable

    https://youtu.be/2OeoM9qj2Ok

  • With about six weeks left before the start of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, problems are growing. Two members of the Australian paralympic team are recovering after being robbed at gunpoint near their hotel in Rio. There are also worries about the Zika virus, a newly declared state of financial emergency, Brazil’s impeached president and allegations of corruption. Ben Tracy traveled to Rio to see if the city can handle the games.

  • Friends and church leaders confirmed 13-year-old Elise Cerami died at the hospital.

    See for instance NBC DFW
    https://youtu.be/_Rh5yQyi3E0

  • One important aspect of Youth Month is celebrating amazing young individuals who are doing big things through their sheer hard work and determination. South Africa continues to produce fantastic swimmers who excel in international level competition and one of those rising stars is Reuben Schoeman.

  • Here’s How To Survive An Ironman Open Water Swim Start

  • A bear took a dip on Father’s Day in the backyard pool of a Mendham, N.J. family.

  • Olympic Silver Medallist, Double World Champion and Great Swim ambassador Keri-anne Payne asks you to change your perspective and enter a Great Swim event in 2016.