Swimmer's Daily

  • At age 15, swimmer Majester Abdul-Jilal of Charleston, W.Va., has big aims. He recently took first place in the YMCA nationals in the 200-meter breast stroke, swimming against 18-year-olds headed to Division 1 schools. And some of his best times have come when he has had to meet the needs of his Muslim faith, fasting from sunup to sundown during Ramadan.

  • Leisel Jones thought she had it all after snaring gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. What followed was an unexpected bout of depression – leading to her darkest moment of all. […]

    I lie in bed at night wondering what’s wrong with me. You’ve done it, I tell myself. You’ve won the gold! Achieved your dream! This is the part where you’re ecstatic. You should be over the moon! It doesn’t feel at all like I expected.

    Because even as a gold medallist, you still have to get up in the morning. You still have to eat your Weet-Bix and brush your teeth. Life goes on. It was stupid to think all that would change. Yet somehow, I now realise, I thought things would be different. That life might be smoother, more perfect. I thought my friends would like me more, my fiancé would love me more. And most stupid of all? I thought I might even like myself.

    After Beijing, a bunch of my teammates go on holidays together. Some go to Bali, others to Thailand. Me? I pack my bags, say my goodbyes, and then head home to Melbourne to break up with my fiancé. […]

    And so one hollow, grey Tuesday afternoon in Spain, while the snow outside is beginning to whirl and dance, I sit down on the bathroom floor with sleeping tablets and plan how I will steal a paring knife from the hotel kitchen to try to kill myself. I will start with my legs, with the big veins in my thighs. Then I will slash at my arms, at my pale white wrists. I shake as I think about it. I imagine the knife and how I will run its blade gently over my skin, scrape it across the smooth skin of my wrist – then go further, do what I need to do.

    Read WAtoday

    https://youtu.be/l6nFGHXIbrA

    Photo by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer

  • At the Greenwood Athletic Club, Olympic champion Missy Franklin is sitting right next to the same pool she learned to swim in as a child.

    “This is the pool where I first learned how to swim,” said Franklin.

    A few years have passed since then and in those years Missy has swam a long way. At the 2012 Olympics she took home 5 medals, 4 of those gold. It helped to make her one of the biggest names heading into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a much different experience than the last time she was preparing for the games.

    “The run up to London was very different than what I am experiencing now before Rio,” said Franklin.

    See 9NEWS

  • This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Janet shares with brio, emotion, and great storytelling how as a top female Olympic winner she discovered the true meaning of winning. More than an outside validation, winning is self defined.
    Janet says: The only way we will become the champions we are capable of being is to personally define what winning means.

  • Four-time Olympic champion Janet Evans was named vice chairman and director of athlete relations for Los Angeles 2024, the committee bidding to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

    The Fullerton native and El Dorado High graduate will head the LA 2024 athletes’ commission working with other Olympians and Paralympians to gather their input into Los Angeles bid to host a third Olympic Games.

    “As a native Southern Californian and passionate supporter of bringing the Games back to the U.S. for the first time in 28 years, I’m honored to join this team and will do everything I can to help LA’s bid,” Evans said.

    “As an Olympian and former athlete who has competed at three Olympic Games I know how important it is that everything is in place to allow athletes to compete at their best. I remember sitting in the stands as a young fan at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in 1984 and those athletes truly inspired my athletic pursuits. I am delighted to be working on a bid that is driven by a passion to provide the athletes of the world with the perfect stage for another inspirational show at LA 2024.”

    Read The Orange County Register

  • Following a study conducted by British company Kantar Media, FINA is pleased to announce that the 16th edition of the FINA World Championships held in Kazan (RUS) from July 24-August 9, 2015, one of the biggest sports events on the planet, cumulated a record aggregated global TV viewership of 6.8 billion (total cumulative audience – 6,840,601,835).

    This official figure represents a 2.3 billion increase since the last edition of the FINA World Championships, held in Barcelona in 2013, where the audience was 4.5 billion. Moreover, two years ago, there was a total of 5,156 hours of dedicated coverage, while Kazan 2015 generated 5,728 hours.

    The cumulative audience is based on six platforms: Live Audience, Delayed, Repeat, Highlights, News and Sports Magazine content.

    Read FINA

  • In episode #4 of MySwim.TV, we tackle the mystery around why you should drink water during practice, when is a good time to drink Gatorade and should you drink soda at swim meets.

    Courtesy of MySwim.TV on YouTube

  • Thought it may be interesting to share what type of swimming equipment I use!

    Courtesy of Calvyn Justus on YouTube

    https://youtu.be/wWnxOdXEFs8

  • They joined a swimming team with the hope of improving their physical and mental abilities. Little did they know they’d become World Champions. Coach Paloma Torres has changed the lives of girls with Down Syndrome through her synchronized swim team called “Special Sirens.” She’s this week’s Game Changer on “Americas Now.”

    Courtesy of CCTV America