Swimmer's Daily

  • China’s controversial Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang will probably compete in four events at the world championships starting in Russia this week, a report said Monday, a year after a secret three-month doping ban.

    Sun, a triple gold medalist at the 2013 Barcelona worlds, is expected to line up in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle at the Kazan World Championships, the official Xinhua news agency said.

    Despite being a national sporting hero, Sun has had several brushes with authority and earned a wild reputation.

    China belatedly revealed in November that Sun served a three-month doping ban before last year’s Asian Games.

    The 1,500 meter world record-holder won three gold medals in Incheon in September after serving the previously unannounced ban. The failure was blamed on medicine for heart palpitations.

    The 23-year-old was also banned from swimming for six months and briefly jailed for driving without a license in 2013, which was discovered after his Porsche was hit by a bus.

    Read The China PostPhoto by KOREA.NET – Official page of the Republic of Korea

  • Swimming South Africa (SSA) announced a five-member squad on Tuesday, revealing a significant cut from the 17-member team that competed at the 2013 showpiece in Barcelona.

    The South African contingent would be spearheaded by defending 100m and 200m champion Chad le Clos and fellow Olympic gold medallist Cameron van der Burgh, who earned gold and silver in the 50m and 100m breaststroke finals at the previous global spectacle.

    Van der Burgh would compete in both his specialist distances, the federation confirmed, and Le Clos was geared up for three events, including the 50m fly.

    They would be joined by another breaststroke speedster, Ayrton Sweeney, rising middle-distance star Myles Brown and the versatile Sebastien Rousseau.

    While the indoor swimmers were limited in numbers, however, a 44-member squad was named to represent the country across five codes.

    The squad also included a six-member open water swimming team led by former 5km bronze medallist Chad Ho, men’s and women’s water polo sides, and synchro and diving representatives.

    Read The Citizen

  • The body of a 21-year-old man was found in the swimming pool at the Los Angeles home of actress Demi Moore, a spokeswoman for the film star and police said on Sunday.

    “I am in absolute shock,” Moore said in a statement through a representative. “I was out of the country traveling to meet my daughters for a birthday celebration when I got the devastating news.”

    “The loss of a child is an unthinkable tragedy and my heart goes out to this young man‘s family and friends,” Moore added.

    The Los Angeles Times newspaper cited the county coroner‘s office as saying the man drowned and was found early Sunday morning floating in the deep end of the pool at the Beverly Crest residence.

    Friends and family told authorities he did not know how to swim.

    Read Las Vegas Review-Journal

    https://youtu.be/BYUvhRM7yr0

  • Learning proper swim technique can have long-term benefits for a child with ADHD, since each motion requires focus and attention. Swimming also encourages rhythmic breathing and oxygen exchange, which increases blood flow to the brain.

    Read ADDitude

    Photo by North Charleston

  • First test of the new dbh wetsuit completed here by the beach near the Turning Torso in Malmö.

    The wetsuit is fine, especially compared to its price point. I had no problems with chafing, which is the main issue that I have experienced with other (and back then more expensive) brands.

    The suit I got is a bit too snug for me (or vice versa, ahem), but felt OK when I had managed to put it on. I wouldn’t say that my undressing speed is of competitive triathlon standard, but maybe it will get better over time.

    One funny thing is that it was a bit too lose in the back, under the zipper. No biggie here, but this might get interesting when I try it in the cold waters of the Faroe Islands.

    But still, thumbs up from here. The insulation is absolutely OK for main Scandinavian waters, and I like that it is thin. Floating is perfectly fine too, but maybe again that is just me :”-)

    DSC00154

    My camera crew got an ice cream for their efforts.

    DSC05627

    A full review will follow later.

  • Three-time Olympian Markus Rogan has stepped forward to help rebuild the Austrian swim federation following a financial scandal.

    The OSV is facing claims for compensation totaling nearly 580,000 euros ($628,000) after long-term misappropriation of funds by former officials. According to the federation general secretary, Thomas Unger, an investigation into the misused subsidies is ongoing.

    Rogan tells Austrian broadcaster ORF on Sunday he has become an adviser to the new OSV executive committee as “it’s a historical chance. We are so deep in (trouble) that it can’t get worse.”

    Read Yahoo! News

    In other news about Rogan …

  • In their first Olympics, in Barcelona in 1992, Penny Heyns came 33rd and 34th in her events. In his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008, Cameron van der Burgh did not make it out of the semi-finals.

    Ryk Neethling took fifth in the 1500m freestyle in Atlanta and Sydney, and eighth in the 400m freestyle in 2000. He didn’t make it out of the preliminary heats for the 200m freestyle.

    Roland Schoeman went no further than the semi-finals of the 50m and 100m freestyle in Sydney, and the 4x100m freestyle team he was part of faltered at the first hurdle. Heyns, Van der Burgh, Neethling and Schoeman all won gold medals at the Olympics. Their first games were tough but necessary.

    They needed to be dropped into the madness of an Olympics, a swim meet that is like no other, where the head is turned and the heart is overwhelmed. The medallists of the future often find that their Olympic success started four years before, when they learnt from failure and how to ride the intensity of the Games.

    Michael Phelps finished fifth in his first Olympics. Mind you, he was only 15 at the time.

    Read iol sport

  • Ryan Lochte is swimming his fewest individual events at major international meet in 11 years at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia, in a little more than two weeks.

    He’s coming off what he called probably the worst year of his career, which followed the worst injury of his career in November 2013 and retirement thoughts.

    Yet Lochte is once again front and center.

    Read NBC OlympicTalkPhoto by Toby and Tai Shan Photo by nrcphotos

  • This annually staged elite-level competition is organised around eleven meets and takes place in some of the world’s most amazing natural water bodies, either freshwater (lake, rowing course, river) or saltwater (sea).