Swimmer's Daily

  • A South Korean court has found Japanese swimmer Naoya Tomita guilty of stealing a camera at the Incheon Asian Games in September last year.

    The district court in Incheon fined Tomita 1 million won (about $890), as called for by prosecutors.

    Tomita had initially admitted to the charge of stealing the camera, which belonged to a South Korean news agency and was left next to a pool on Sept. 25. But he later claimed he was falsely accused.

    Tomita, who won the men’s 200-meter breaststroke at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, denied the accusation at a press conference in Japan last November and claimed that someone unbeknownst to him had stolen his bag before placing the camera in question inside.

    He again denied committing the crime when the trial opened in the South Korean port city in January, saying: “There is no truth that I stole a camera.”

    He argued that he had no interest or knowledge of cameras in the first place, adding that it would be impossible for him to even know how to remove the professional telescopic lens before stealing the camera, as claimed by the prosecution.

    Police who investigated the incident maintained that video footage from the surveillance camera clearly shows Tomita committing the crime.

    The presiding judge said in the ruling that Tomita’s claim was “difficult to believe.”

    Tomita told reporters after the ruling that he would decide whether or not to lodge an appeal within the next seven days.

    “The surveillance camera footage is unclear and I can’t accept this ruling,” he said.

    Read The Japan Times

    https://youtu.be/_AUdi6cDR94

  • An Italian boy who fell into a canal in Milan has survived despite being held underwater for as long as 42 minutes.

    The 14-year-old, who is said to have jumped off a bridge in Cuggiono with five friends into water which was just 6.5-feet deep, was in hospital for a month, Time reported.

    His heart stopped beating while he was in the water and he was assumed dead, until it was restarted with a defibrillator.

    Even his rescue was an incredible feat – taking a team of people and fire service divers 42 minutes to form a human chain and drag him from the murky canal bed.

    The teenager, who is half-German but has only been identified as ‘Michael’ by The Milan Chronicle, was attached to life support to enable his lungs and heart to recover and to keep his body oxygenated.

    But after four weeks in hospital in San Raffaele, he is said to have woken, spoken to his parents and asked whether his favourite football team, Juventus, was still in the Champions League.

    His doctor, Alberto Zangrillo – personal physician to the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – told Italian media that the boy’s resuscitation was “the greatest satisfaction of my entire professional career” and said that the cold water had helped save his life because it caused a slow down of his vital functions.

    The team also used a technique called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to extract oxygen-deprived blood, warm it up and add oxygen, before pumping it back into the body, The Times reported.

    After 10 days of using the technique, which mimics the function of the heart, while Michael was in an induced coma, he survived.

    “After 15 days we performed an MRI scan and his brain appeared OK,” said Dr Zangrillo.

    His right leg had to be amputated below the knee due to circulation problems, but he is now said to be “alert”, without brain damage, and remembers what happened before the accident.

    Read The Independent

    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

  • A conversation with Steven LaBue, Red Bull Professional Cliff Diver, filmed at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, on May 26th, 2015. In the conversation, Steven talks about Cliff Diving and the time he hit his head on the Platform 92 feet above the water in La Rochelle, France.

  • How does Sarah Sjöström feel when she is at the starting block ?

  • See Svensk Simidrott

    Swimmers:

    • Christoffer Carlsen, Mölndal ASS
    • Michelle Coleman, SpÃ¥rvägen S
    • Stina Gardel,l SpÃ¥rvägen S
    • Louise Hansson, Helsingborg S
    • Jennie Johansson, SK Neptun
    • Ida Lindborg, Malmö S
    • Erik Persson, Kungsbacka S
    • Simon Sjödin, SK Neptun
    • Sarah Sjöström, Södertörns S

    National head coach: Ulrika Sandmark
    Coaches: Jonas Lundström, Helsingborg S, Carl Jenner, NEC, Andrei Vorontsov, NEC

  • The Founder of “Swim, Swim, Swim I Say,” Agnes Davis stopped by the WBLS studios to talk about why African Americans NEED to learn how to swim.

  • When summer comes around, millions around the world go swimming in oceans and lakes. Is it safe?

  • May is national water safety month and one of the best ways to stay safe around water is learning how to swim. Jumping into the deep end may not seem like a good idea for an infant, but with parent-child swim classes, an early start is key. Liz Walker, owner of SwimKids says, Children are born loving the water and if you handle it right that can continue onto a lifetime of love for the water.

  • Bystanders on a Hutchinson Island beach jumped in to save a drowning young man they say was caught in the rip current on Monday.