Swimmer's Daily

  • Cherokee County, Ala., authorities say a man died Wednesday afternoon after jumping into a swimming hole known as the “mill hole,” near Little River Canyon National Preserve in the Tucker’s Chapel area in the north end of the county.

    According to Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver, the man, whose identity has not been released, jumped into the water and appeared to struggle when he went under and never resurfaced.

    Bystanders jumped in, found the man and pulled him onto the rocks. Their attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, the sheriff said.

    See timesfreepress.com

  • Three-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett is taking part. She’s participated in other events across the U.S. and she’s thrilled that Tampa Bay will now host a Swim Across America fundraiser for the fourth year.

    “Swim Across America is a great charity organization,” says Bennett. “For me, to give back to my sport, provide research for cancer patients, and to be here at home doing it– for me it’s a no-brainer and I love seeing the results that we’re getting.”

    Money raised from the event goes to support young adult cancer patients at Moffitt and also research into the deadly skin cancer melanoma.

    See 10NEWS

  • A U.S. Navy SEAL hopeful and his friend, an off-duty lifeguard, were barreling through underwater drills in a pool just 3.5 feet (1 meter) deep. No one realized anything was wrong until their limp, unconscious bodies were noticed beneath the surface.

    This summer, nearly four years after those deaths in a Staten Island pool raised alarms about a little known hazard called shallow-water blackout or hypoxic blackout, New York City is putting up warning signs at all public pools prohibiting prolonged breath holding.

    It is part of a movement to raise awareness of the peril that has killed accomplished swimmers and to stop it by banning lengthy breath holding in the nation’s estimated 300,000 public pools.

    Shallow-water blackout occurs when a person tries to swim underwater for an extraordinarily long time, typically to build endurance. Swimmers often start by taking multiple deep breaths to go a longer distance underwater, causing their blood levels of carbon dioxide to plunge. Once underwater, carbon dioxide levels fail to rise quickly enough to signal the brain to breathe, oxygen levels fall rapidly, and the swimmer faints underwater and drowns.

    “Because the swimmer has a low oxygen level at the time of the fainting, brain damage occurs within a couple of minutes, and death is very likely,” a doctor warns in a recent public service announcement. Afterward, Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps urges coaches to end the risky swim team tradition of marathon breath-holding workouts.

    New York City and Santa Barbara, California are among the first U.S. cities to outlaw long breath holding in public pools.

    Read Reuters

    Photo by jayhem

  • A kayaker was left amazed after bottlenose dolphins swam close to his kayak off the west coast of Scotland near the Isle of Coll.

    The spectacular moment was caught on camera when Shane Wasik and Luke Saddler, as they paddled back to their main boat.

    The dolphins appeared to start playing with one another in the bay as the kayakers looked on in amazement.

    Mr Wasik said: “It was a really amazing experience but getting that close I was glad to get back to the boat.

    “It’s still a wild animal that can weigh over half a tonne.”

    See The Press and Journal

  • 5-time Olympian Dara Torres stopped by “Kilmeade and Friends” and talked to Brian about “Swim Today” a program that helps educate parents about how healthy swimming can be.

    Dara explained that it actually isn’t a one on one sport because when you are part of the team you always have your teammates around you and cheering you on. They also talked about the sexual marketing of female athletes.

    Listen to Fox News Radio

  • It’s been nearly two months since the Wellness & Aquatics Complex in Maury County closed but there’s now a new push to reopen the facility’s pools, according to county leaders.

    Formerly the Maury County YMCA, the WAC was losing money and could not come up with the funding to stay open. It closed in late April.

    Former members said the pools were more than just a place where people exercised. They were a place where local swim teams practiced and competed.

    Maury Regional Medical Center also used the indoor pool for aquatic therapy. Since shutting its doors, the hospital has not been able to offer aquatic therapy to its patients.

    See WKRN-TV

  • Memphis police and fire departments were called to a scene where a man was swimming naked in the Mississippi River.

    Emergency crews, including the Coast Guard, tried to help him get out of the water, but the man refused their help and continued swimming.

    See myfoxmemphis

    FOX13 News, WHBQ FOX 13

  • In the part of Mote Marine that visitors see, three-foot-long bonnethead sharks show off in a multi-windowed tank.

    In a nearby shallow pool, Atlantic stingrays, whose barbs have been snipped to make them safe enough for a toddler to touch, circle endlessly.

    Beyond the employees-only door, research scientists headed by Carl A. Luer have spent decades studying the miraculous ways in which bonnetheads defend themselves from cancer, and the way in which Atlantic stingrays and related species grow their own antibiotics.

    It is quite possible that a child touching a stingray at Mote today could someday be saved by an antibiotic or an anti-cancer medicine that originated there.

    Read Herald-Tribune

    Photo by MyFWCmedia

  • South African President Jacob Zuma will not have to repay public money spent on ‘security upgrades’ to his private residence that included a swimming pool and chicken run, the police minister announced Thursday.

    Finding that all the upgrades were for necessary for the safety of the head of state, Nkosinathi Nhleko told a news conference: “The state president is therefore not liable to pay for any of the security features.”

    Read Yahoo! News