Swimmer's Daily

  • Josh Stewart had an unexpected experience when he dived into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru in search of a giant manta ray.

    After encountering a 15-feet manta he tried to photograph’s the ray’s underbelly—a common practice to ID the manta—when the cheeky animal decided to take the diver on a quick swim.

    Pushed by the ray, Stewart was forced to somersault under water before the animal swam away.

    “I was just swimming down as I usually do to capture a manta ID shot and before I knew it, I was engulfed in the wings of this massive manta as I tumbled through the water,” Stewart told GrindTv. “I suffered no injuries but it was certainly a big surprise.”

    See The Weather Report

  • South Korean Olympic swimming gold medalist Park Tae-hwan, serving an extended suspension following a positive drug test, was decidedly non-committal about his future on Friday.

    Facing the press for the first time since getting slapped with an 18-month ban by FINA, the international swimming federation, earlier this week, Park said it was premature to talk about competing in the future.

    Park said he was so devastated about the positive test last year that he briefly contemplated retirement but added it was “inappropriate” for him to talk about his future after disappointing so many people.

    “I think it’s important for me to first apologize to the people I’ve let down and take time for some self-introspection,” Park said. “Swimming is everything to me. It’s all I’ve ever done and not being able to compete is hugely shocking. It’s as if my whole life has been taken away from me in an instant. It makes it difficult for me to think about retirement at this point.”

    Read Korea Times

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

  • In 1975, at 17 years of age, Andy broke Jim Montgomery’s 12-day old ward record in the 100m freestyle. He won 3 gold medals at the 1975 FINA World Championships and at the University of Tennessee won seven NCAA titles, including the 50 and 100 free twice. Late in 2014 he was diagnosed with Gullian-Barre Syndrome, the same disease that afflicted Hall of Famer, Rowdy Gaines. This video shows Andy’s efforts at recovery.

  • Tom Fraser-Holmes, Jordan Harrison and Dan Smith talk about what it means to be a Dolphin.

  • Hannah Miley hopes to make it third time lucky with a medal at next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.

    The European and Commonwealth 400m individual medley champion finished sixth on her Olympic debut at Beijing 2008 and was fifth at London 2012.

    “I’ve won a medal at every major championships there is for swimming but the Olympics have eluded me,” she said.

    “That’s the target. Whether I can get on the podium or not – that’s the dream to chase.”

    Read BBC Sport

  • Bellahøj Swim Stadium is venue of the Danish Open 2015 from today Saturday 28 March to Tuesday 31 March, featuring 491 swimmers from 12 countries including aside from the Danish elite also top swimmers like Simona Baumrtová (CZE), Lavrans Solli (NOR), Eygló Ósk Gustafsdóttir (ISL), Andrey Govorov (RUS), Fanny Lecluyse (BEL), Mateusz Sawrymowicz (POL) and our guy Pál Joensen (FAR).

    Screen Shot 2015-03-28 at 15.19.38

  • Kids at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne on Thursday got a chance to hear the most decorated Olympic athlete in history talk about how they can achieve their dreams.

    Speaking to a group of more than 20 kids, reporters and Boys & Girls Clubs employees, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps talked about his dreams and goals when he was growing up and how he worked to achieve them.

    “Everybody has a dream as a child. … We have something we really want to do, really want to accomplish, no matter what it is,” he said. “I wanted to become an Olympic champion, a world-record holder and a professional athlete.”

    To accomplish that dream, Phelps said he and his coach came up with a plan for how he was going to get there and started working, training 365 days a year for five or six years.

    “If you want to be the best, you have to do things others won’t do,” he said, telling the kids that when they run into difficulty or fail, they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help.

    “Trust me – I was afraid to ask one of my best friends to take me to the grocery store because I thought he was going to say no. It’s funny, but it’s true. I was afraid to do it because I didn’t want him to say no, but it’s OK, it’s OK if somebody can’t help you at that very moment, but you’ll never know until you ask.”

    Phelps also briefly touched on the eight to 10-week “im” program developed by the Michael Phelps Foundation for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to teach members how to swim, how to practice water safety and to encourage healthy lifestyles.

    “It’s amazing for my ‘im’ program to be able to reach over 10,000 people – most of them kids – in not only the country, in the world, to be water safe,” he said. “We’re in 35 states, hoping to get to every single one, so our goals are endless of what we want to do and to be able to have the excitement that you have here, there’s nothing like it.”

    Read The Journal Gazette og WANE

  • Returning swimming great Grant Hackett would be welcomed into the Australian team in any capacity despite his personal struggles since his 2008 retirement, head coach Jacco Verhaeren has said.

    And Hackett, who will swim in the national trials that begin in Sydney on Friday, said he would be keen to support the team team even if he did not qualify for this year’s world titles in Kazan, Russia.

    Verhaeren will head to the national titles looking for answers over the form of three world champions. James Magnussen’s performance will be heavily scrutinised following his shock decision to leave his long-time coach Brant Best for the inexperienced duo of Lachlan and Mitch Falvey, while Cate Campbell and Christian Sprenger will be returning from shoulder injuries.

    But on Hackett, who returned to the pool in November last year with former coach Denis Cotterell, Verhaeren was emphatic that the Olympic champion would be invaluable to the team, which is rebuilding from its shambolic London Olympics performance, which was marred by the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay squad’s infamous Stilnox bonding session.

    Read The Sydney Morning Herald

  • South Korea’s four-time Olympic swimming medallist Park Tae-Hwan has finally broken his silence after being slapped with a 18-month ban for testing positive for testosterone – a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

    Known affectionately as “Marine Boy” in South Korea, where he is something of a national icon, Park tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid at an out-of-competition control before the Asian Games on September 3 last year.

    At a news conference on Friday (Mar 27), Park offered an apology. “I’d like to extend my sincere apologies to everyone in South Korea who always show unwavering support to me. I am sorry and ashamed by this unacceptable incident for which I too cannot forgive myself.”

    This was his first public appearance since he received his suspension on Monday. The 18-month ban began retroactively the day of the positive test and will end in March 2016.

    Park has said he had no knowledge that the injection he received contained the banned substance. The doctor who gave him the injection has been indicted by prosecutors for professional negligence.

    Whatever the circumstances, Park said he would take full responsibility. He said: “Question of intention aside, as a representative swimmer of South Korea, I sincerely regret the outcome (of this incident). I was ignorant about the world beyond the swimming pool. Regardless of the reason or process, this (incident) is due to my carelessness.”

    Read Channel NewsAsia

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