• A few months ago, I started taking swimming lessons. At 42, I bought my first swim cap and pair of goggles, and joined a handful of other adults at our local YMCA for a six-week course. I ignored my pasty white legs and tried to look nonchalant. I regretted my vibrant blue swimsuit after noticing that the other students had on more subdued choices. The first day, and I was already wearing the wrong thing. It felt like high school, but with wrinkles.

    Read The Washington Post

  • A coach with the STAR Swim club is under investigation by police for inappropriate cell phone contact with a minor.

    The Erie County District Attorney’s Office says this is an ongoing investigation and Hamburg Police are the lead agency on the case.

    7 Eyewitness News received a letter from a concerned parent about the investigation. The parent says the club sent home a letter regarding what happened.

    The letter says parents of a swimmer contacted the club after finding out the coach had inappropriately texted and e-mailed their child.

    See WBKW

  • Adam Peaty’s world record in the 100 breaststroke today at the British nationals capped off a session in which he was the only person to beat the very tough automatic qualifying times for the world championship team set by British Swimming.

    Peaty blazed through the final with a 57.92, beating the world record of 58.46 by Cameron Van Der Burgh swum at the 2012 Olympics. Peaty split 27.04 at 50 meters to put him just three hundredths ahead of Van Der Burgh’s split then churned out a stunning 30.88 to become the first swimmer under 58 seconds.

    Read SwimmingWorld and see the result list.

    Image courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Don’t call it Ishmael; the remotely operated underwater vehicle is named Hercules. Used by the Nautilus Live expedition to explore the depths of the sea, Hercules is one of a pair of robots live-streaming the depths of the ocean. Yesterday, south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico and at a depth of almost 2000 feet, Hercules (and anyone lucky enough to be watching the live stream at the time) caught something extraordinary on camera: a sperm whale.

    See Popular Science

  • Children with disabilities often can’t participate in team sports. A new documentary called “Swim Team” chronicles the Jersey Hammerheads, a swim team for kids with autism.

  • Swimming is the #funnestsport because of…Teamwork. Olympians Jessica Hardy and Brendan Hansen, rising swimmer Kendall Shields, and swim club parent Pat Forde talk about why they believe teamwork makes swimming so much fun.

  • The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed an appeal by Indian swimmer Amar Muralidharan over a 2010 positive doping test for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine.

    The decision announced Thursday was the first case conducted at the CAS Alternative Hearing Centre in Abu Dhabi. CAS is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

    Muralidharan, a butterfly and freestyle swimmer who held six national titles, appealed to CAS over his two-year ban following his positive test at the Indian national championships in 2010, saying his doping test had not been handled properly by a New Delhi testing laboratory.

    CAS found that although there were “unfortunate and avoidable” typographical errors associated with the test, they had “no impact on the reliability or integrity of the sample.”

    Read The Times of India

  • The former coach of Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics told police he was sexting his wife when he was caught exposing himself at a hotel pool, police said.

    Troy Emmons, 53, was “completely naked” when Saugatuck-Douglas police showed up after being dispatched on a lewdness complaint at AmericInn in Douglas, Police Chief Ken Giles told a judge.

    “He said he was at that time, sending text messages along with pictures to his wife, who was out of town in Idaho,” Giles said, according to a recording obtained by MLive and The Grand Rapids Press.

    See MLive

  • Myles Brown held on for dear life to claim the 200m freestyle title from Olympic star Chad Le Clos at the SA championships in Durban on Wednesday night.

    Le Clos failed to win either of his two races‚ including his favourite 200m butterfly‚ on a night he described as one of his worst.

    Brown had the lead coming out of the final turn and he powered home to touch first in 1:47.44; Le Clos‚ unable to produce his trademark strong finish‚ clocked 1:47.89.

    Both times beat the qualifying mark for the world championships in Kazan‚ Russia‚ in August.

    “It was a nice race to win‚ especially racing against Chad in the 200m free‚” said Brown‚ who has also qualified in the 400m freestyle.

    “All I was doing in that last lap was to hold on for dear life. I managed to hold on and hold him off. I was‚ of course‚ expecting more from him in that last 50m.”

    Brown laughed off a suggestion that he had out-psyched Le Clos. “It’s very hard to get into Chad’s head‚ so I had to be alert at all times‚ especially when making that final turn.”

    Brown was not entirely pleased with his time‚ which was outside the top 10 in the world rankings.

    Le Clos agreed: “I was disappointed because of the time. If it was a 1:46 then it would be different. I think we (including Brown) were both slow.

    “In a final there was pressure on both of us. I think we were focused on beating each other – which is something [coach] Graham Hill warned. I should have been more confident.”

    Read Times Live

    Photo by Doha Stadium Plus