Swimmer's Daily

  • The stunning waters off the island of Jamaica are threatened by invasive venomous lionfish. Fortunately for the coastal ecosystem, local fisherman and chefs have teamed up to eliminate the lionfish, one delicious fillet at a time.

  • Pole dancers show off their AQUA-batic skills as they run through their routines underwater. Professional photographer Brett Stanley, 40, set out to capture the grace of the dancers’ moves when taken out of the context of a strip club. The elegant images feature a mixture of amateur pole dancers and novices keen on grappling with the logistical challenges of pole dancing underwater. Shot over a few months, Brett worked with the dancers to create the series, teaching them how to hold their breath under the water and collaborating on which poses worked best. To see more of Brett’s incredible photography, visit his website at: www.underwater-photographer.com

    https://youtu.be/kGJl6gLvklM

  • FINA is aware of the allegations made in today’s Times, and that further allegations may be made in the coming days. We have called on the Times to share with us any information they may have which might assist us in our primary objective of protecting clean athletes in swimming. Any new allegations of doping in our sport, which are substantiated by evidence and which have not already been addressed, will be investigated as a matter of utmost urgency, because we have absolutely zero tolerance for the use of performance-enhancing substances in swimming.

    However, it should be noted that while FINA is not aware of any concrete evidence of systemic doping in Russian swimming, we have taken a particularly robust approach to our anti-doping procedures in relation to Russia and Russian competitions, in light of WADA’s recent investigation.

    During the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, 645 samples were collected for analysis by the FINA Doping Control Review Board, led by Professor Andrew Pipe, as part of the in-competition testing programme. These comprised 457 urine and 188 blood tests. There were a further 418 blood screenings as part of the Athlete Biological Passport programme. These tests were analysed in the then-WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow, under the supervision of independent observers from the WADA-accredited laboratories in Barcelona and London.

    Following the results of the WADA investigation, FINA issued a directive to ensure the continued integrity of the testing programme. Every single sample collected during the World Championships has been transferred and stored in the WADA-accredited laboratory in Barcelona. The entirety of FINA’s unannounced out-of-competition doping control programme in Russia is now conducted by a third-party independent of FINA and RUSADA, the Swedish company IDTM.

    In the 2014 season the majority of out-of-competition doping control tests were analysed by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow, judged fully compliant with the WADA code at the time. However, following the announcement of the official investigation, FINA made the decision to move a significant majority of Russian athletes’ samples out of Russia for analysis. In 2015, the great majority of the samples collected in Russia were analysed in the WADA-accredited laboratories in Barcelona and Köln. The samples of Russian athletes living or training outside Europe were analysed in the WADA-accredited laboratories in Montreal (CAN) and Salt Lake City (USA). 100% of samples collected in Russia will be analysed in these overseas laboratories in 2016.

    FINA is currently conducting target-testing for the 10 best-performing athletes in each event, with at least five tests prior to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. FINA publishes the entirety of these statistics as well as the decisions of its FINA Doping Panel on the FINA website, where they remain until bans are spent.

    Read FINA.org

    https://youtu.be/DRYRGoI97FI

  • Russia has undertaken systematic doping in swimming for years, the Times newspaper said on Wednesday, as the nation battles a drugs problem that could prevent the country’s track and field squad from competing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

    The English newspaper said its investigation had unearthed “systematic” drug use in the sport, where more than a dozen Russian swimmers were suspended in the past three years for doping.

    The Times said Dr Sergei Portugalov, Chief of the Russian Athletics Federation’s Medical Commission, who was said to have provided banned substances to Russian athletes, was also involved in swimming.

    Dr Portugalov was named in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report on systematic doping in Russian athletics a few months ago.

    “Calls for Russian swimmers to be excluded from the Games will grow after the investigation revealed that Portugalov, the doctor recommended for a lifetime ban by WADA as a key player at the heart of Russia’s doping scandal, actively encouraged the national swimming team to adopt a systematic doping policy,” the newspaper said.

    Read Reuters

    Also on Reuters: “Russian swimming federation denies doping use allegations: R-sport”

    The R-sport story

  • After being allotted $18 million for improvements, the City of Wichita’s Parks and Recreation Department has outlined a 7-year plan for its aquatics facilities.

    The city currently owns ten aquatics parks, including a swimming pool at Edgemoor Park that has been closed due to maintenance issues since 2012.

    In a plan that was presented to Wichita City Council members on Tuesday, the Edgemoor swimming pool would receive a significant remodeling, with an opening date in 2020.

    The plan would also replace four swimming pools—McAdams, Orchard, Boston and Linwood—with water playgrounds.

    Wichita Aquatics Manager Brian Hill says the splash pads combine large fountains and jungle gyms, and will save the city money.

    “[Water playgrounds] reduce our cost of water, it reduces our chemical costs, and the big one, obviously, you don’t have to staff them with lifeguards,” Hill says.

    Read KMUW, KAKE and The Wichita Eagle

  • Guest post by AJ Earley

    Some of my earliest memories are of the municipal pool in Meridian, Idaho. Sometimes my grandparents would babysit us during the summer, and my grandfather would take me to the pool with him when he taught the Red Cross lifeguard class.

    (more…)

  • First time ice-swimming (actually just a quick dip)

    https://youtu.be/apPBS0IE740

  • Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua in Auckland gathered today to compete in an inter-school swim meet. With Māori over-represented in drowning statistics, it was an opportunity to showcase the positive steps Māori communities are taking to reduce these statistics.

  • Team GB Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington OBE cuts the red ribbon at Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s new Giant Otter reserve. See more at www.YWPFoundation.com