Swimmer's Daily

  • Members of the North Carolina A&T swim team shared their swim journeys with HBCU Gameday.

  • Clarke Scholes (USA) led from the start, was first at the turn and finished inches ahead of Hiroshi Suzuki of Japan, who came up with a rousing burst of speed in the final 25 yards. Both were clocked in 57 point 4 seconds.

  • In a conference that has few rivals when it comes to the amount of Olympic talent it has produced in the pool, the conversation for greatest male swimmer of the last 100 years starts and stops in Berkeley.

    So said the Pac-12 on Monday when it announced Cal legend Matt Biondi has been named the conference’s Male Swimmer of the Century. The 11-time Olympic medalist headlines a phenomenal group of swimming talent that makes up a Pac-12 All-Century Swimming and Diving team that includes 26 swimmers and six divers who were named by a panel of 20 coaches, swimmers, administrators and members of the media.

    Biondi certainly isn’t the only Golden Bear on the list. Nathan Adrian, Par Arvidsson, Peter Rocca and Tom Shields also earned recognition for their amazing careers and Cal swimming ranked third among conference schools with its five honorees.

    One of the greatest freestyle swimmers in American history, Biondi won 12 NCAA and 14 Pac-10 titles during his Cal career and was a four-time All-American from 1984-87. He set 12 world records during his swimming career, including being the first man to swim a sub-49 second time in the 100 freestyle.

    Read calbears.com

  • The alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy by an Iraqi refugee in Vienna has sparked mixed reactions: while locals feel unsafe and blame the government, pro-immigration campaigners claim such cases should not be the basis for “general mistrust.”
    After the boy was allegedly brutally raped in southwestern Vienna by a 20-year-old refugee in the changing rooms at a swimming pool, people became more worried about their families’ safety in the Austrian capital. The suspected child abuser, who arrived in Austria from Iraq in September of last year, leaving a wife and a child back at home, is one of many newcomers who now prevail in their neighborhood, locals say.

    “There are more migrants than Austrian families at the moment here, really huge groups of migrant people,” one woman told RT.

    “We used to bring our kids swimming in this pool, [but] when we heard about the incident, after this sad story we decided to stay away,” another man said, adding: “It’s the fault of the Austrian government, because it took lots of refugees from the outside.”

    See RT

  • On a cold day in Portland, the water’s warm at the YMCA. It’s great news for the group of Casco Bay High School students taking their swim test.

    “Swimming is a life skill. It’s a life-saving skill, and it’s essential,” said Grant Gerber, a junior on the swim team at Husson University.

    Gerber returned to teach a week-long swim intensive he created when he was a student at Casco Bay High School. It’s for students who don’t have a lot, or any, swimming experience. Many of them are students who immigrated to the United States.

    See WGME

  • Having a rough day and meditation just isn’t cutting it?

    Then I suggest checking out Lana Del Rey’s new video for “Freak,” off her 2015 album “Honeymoon,” for a touch of inner peace.

    Word of warning: You’ll need about 11 minutes of your time to watch the clip, which Del Rey released late Tuesday night.

    See The Wall Street Journal (blogs)

  • Cameron McEvoy believes passing up the rare chance to go head-to-head with Olympic legend Michael Phelps may be the best decision he has made as he chases gold in Rio.

    McEvoy, 21, had the chance to head to America to train with and race 18-time Olympic gold medallist Phelps at the US winter titles, and take part in the Speedo international launch late last year.

    But after considerable consultation with coach Richard Scarce, he decided that staying home to train on the Gold Coast and race both the state and national shortcourse championships would give him the best preparation heading into an Olympic year.

    After dominating the Aquatic Super Series in Perth over the weekend, McEvoy said the decision had proved to be the right one.

    Read Gold Coast Bulletin

  • Cameron van der Burgh, who is preparing to compete at his third Olympics at the Rio Games, joked yesterday that he’s getting old after finding himself surrounded by new young faces at a weekend gala.

    “There were all these kids and I didn’t know who they were.

    “I was thinking ‘where did they come from’? I’m getting old,” said a smiling Van der Burgh at a media day at the Tuks-aligned High Performance Centre in Pretoria.

    Read Times Live

  • Gregory Burns interview with world record holder free diver Christian Redl who shares his passion for diving and sharks.