Swimmer's Daily

  • Disgraced South Korean swim star Park Tae-Hwan needs to apologise before any discussion can begin on when he might return to competition after failing a doping test, the head of the national swim federation said Wednesday.

    The 18-month suspension handed down to Park by world swimming body FINA on Monday sparked debate at home over whether the four-time Olympic swimming medallist should be allowed to take part in next year’s Olympics in Rio.

    The FINA ban ends in March 2016, which theoretically gives Park time to prepare for the Olympics, but a new rule instituted by the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) last year could see him miss the Rio event.

    The rule bars any athlete suspended for doping from competing with the national team for three years. In Park’s case, that would bar him until March 2019 — by which time the 25-year-old would be past his best.

    KOC officials have suggested there might be room for “flexibility” in enforcing the regulation.

    But Lee Kee-Heung, head of the Korea Swimming Federation, said the issue of reinstating Park, a national icon in South Korea, could be discussed only after the swimmer made a full, public apology.

    “First and foremost, Park Tae-Hwan should apologise to the people that he’s let down and plead for their forgiveness, and take time to reflect on himself,” Lee told reporters as he returned home after attending FINA’s hearing in Switzerland.

    Read Reuters and Yahoo! Sports

    Photo by KOREA.NET – Official page of the Republic of Korea

  • Deb Matejicka has jumped in some cold water, but this is next level.

  • According to a person who lives at the apartment, the elderly driver seemed disoriented.

  • “The Wonder List” host Bill Weir travels to the Dead Sea and discovers how ancient travelers reacted to the salty body of water.

  • Korea’s “Marine Boy” Park Tae-hwan, who tested positive for testosterone last fall, was hit with an 18-month ban on Monday, following a short hearing at the Switzerland headquarters of the world swimming body, FINA.

    The ban will remain in effect until March 2016.

    In theory, that means Park could still take part in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but he will certainly miss the 2015 world championships in Russia this summer.

    See arirang

    Photo by KOREA.NET – Official page of the Republic of Korea

  • Watch as the 2009 U.S. Olympic Swim Team engages with the Navy SEALs at the Naval Special Warfare Center. Featuring Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Mark Schubert and Jack Roach.

  • Presentation by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson on Innovation in Sport, during the opening session of the 3rd FINA World Aquatics Convention in Doha (QAT). Read for instance fina.org here and here

    World records were slaughtered and the high-tech ‘shark skin’ swimsuits were the new and controversial hot topic; the sport’s credibility was at stake. Then, five years ago, the suits were banned and the FINA swimwear approval commission was set up.

    “With our work today we will not be caught unprepared again,” commission chairman Jan-Anders Manson told AIPS during the FINA World Aquatics Convention in Doha. The world of swimming was witness to steady record-setting before the ‘shark skin’ suits. But shortly after their introduction world records were being smashed by swimmers in new super costumes.

  • For years, when on holiday in Ayia Napa, Charlie Dark would “look cool around the pool with my sunglasses on and get in the shallow end but that’s as far as my skills went”. But now the 44-year-old DJ and creative writing teacher is learning to swim for the first time so he can enjoy swimming with his two children.

    Dark is far from unusual: according to the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), one in five adults in England are unable to swim – more than nine million people – despite swimming also being the most popular participation sport in the country.

    Like many, Dark’s memories of school swimming lessons are not fond ones: the teachers “just stood on the side and shouted at you”, and so he grew up with a secret fear of the water.

    Six weeks ago, however, he joined a challenge in which 15 non-swimming adults began training to do the Great North Swim – a mile in open water – in four months’ time.

    Read The Guardian

  • It no doubt is a beautiful day for a swim, but one gator picked the wrong place to go for a dip and it ended up being its last.

    Residents at a Nokomis home in Mission Valley Estates got quite a surprise Friday morning when they spotted a 6-foot alligator enjoying their swimming pool.

    A trapper came and removed the gator which will be killed.

    See 10News

    https://youtu.be/igEQ0vjulrI