• A message from the FINA GMS

    We are pleased to announce that the registration for the 16th FINA World Masters Championships 2015 – Kazan (RUS) IS NOW OPEN!

    The entry booklet for the Championships is available for download here.

    The registration for the FINA World Masters Championships is INDIVIDUAL. Each participant must create his own account and register through the FINA General Management System (FINA GMS) Public Portal by going to https://registration.fina.org

    The registration user guide dedicated to Masters can be found by clicking here

    Please note the following important deadlines for Registration:

    FINAL Registration and Individual Events Deadline: 15 June 2015

    • All persons willing to participate must be registered and have paid their registration fee to the event by 15 June 2015.
    • No registrations will be accepted after 15 June 2015.
    • All individual event entries must be paid by 15 June 2015.


    FINAL Sport Entries (Correction for Individual events and Submission of Team events entries) Deadline: 02 July 2015

    • All corrections to Individual swimming entries must be submitted by 02 July 2015. Only corrections to individual Swimming entry times(submitted and paid before 15 June 2015) will be accepted up to 02 July 2015.
    • All Team event entries must be submitted and paid by 02 July 2015. Only persons registered by the registration deadline (15 June 2015) will be able to be added to teams before the deadline (02 July 2015).
    • No changes or additions to Individual or Team event entries will be accepted after 02 July 2015


    NB: All fees must be paid by the respective deadline.

    For all information about the FINA World Masters Championships  Kazan 2015, please refer to the Official website of the Championships: http://masters.kazan2015.com/en

    Frequently Asked Questions about the Championships are on the Championships website located here: http://masters.kazan2015.com/en/faq

    Should you have any questions relating to the event, please send enquiries to: masters2015@kazan2015.com

  • I have never trusted swimming. Unlike most forms of exercise and beach or poolside activities, when you are swimming you have to spend a lot of time in something that can quite handily kill you. And that has never seemed entirely wise to me.

    While I did not grow up with a fear of water, I did grow up with parents who had a healthy distrust of the stuff and, as a result, swimming was never high on the family agenda on those incredibly rare days when our weather permitted us to go to a beach.

    And even when we were at the beach – and had allowed the requisite hour to pass after eating our sand-coated sandwiches and red lemonade – the siren call of the Baltic-like water off our western shores was never too loud or too enticing for the child me.

    So, I only really learned to swim in my 20s when I started going on foreign holidays and could see a point to the endeavour.

    Well, I say, “learned to swim” but what I actually mean is I learned not to die while never straying out of my depth. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually took lessons and learned to swim a few strokes. A very, very, few strokes.

    Now, with a whole lot of desperately inelegant flailing, I can crawl from one end of a 25-metre pool to the other. If I rely instead on the breast stroke, I can probably manage two lengths but my pace is best described as funereal. I even did the butterfly once. I think the water is still lodged in my brain.

    This is why I can’t actually believe I have accepted the challenge to swim a mile. What was I thinking?

    Read The Irish Times

  • Lara Brickhouse, Michele Mazey and Jonathan Wells started the adapted aquatics program last year. The goal is to teach water safety and aquatic survival skills to students with special needs throughout the Pitt County school system.

    See The Daily Reflector

  • An international doping hearing for South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan has been postponed, officials here said on Friday.

    The Korea Swimming Federation (KSF) said FINA, the international governing body of swimming, has put off the hearing originally scheduled for Feb. 27 in Lausanne, Switzerland. No new date has been set, the KSF added.

    The KSF explained that Park had asked FINA to delay the hearing because he needed more time to prepare.

    Park, a four-time Olympic medalist and two-time world champ, tested positive for testosterone, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), after submitting two urine samples to FINA on Sept. 3.

    Earlier this month, prosecutors in Seoul indicted the doctor who apparently injected the banned substance into Park on charges of professional negligence.

    Read Yonhap News

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

  • I often (OK always) take cameras down to Sydney’s famous Sea pools for the first quick and dirty test. Why? I find that working quick, in the near dark, run and gun style with little research or prep is a great test for any camera. I get to see how easily I can move around with the camera and how straightforward it is to change speeds, ISO and shutters on the fly. Being forced to shoot hand held gives me a great idea of the camera’s ergonomics and how easy it is to use in different shooting positions. Usually on a commercial shoot I have the luxury of a 1st AC to pull focus. Going handheld and focussing myself gives me a better insight into how good the EVF or monitor is, and how good any peaking or focus aids are. Finally the Sea pools are a visual challenge for any camera – the combination of people and water in harsh, unforgiving light is a great test. I get to examine sharpness, slow motion artefacts and dynamic range all in one location.

    See News Shooter

  • Disgorging is part of the traditional method for either sparkling wine or Champagne where you remove the yeast sediment. After the second fermentation, the wine rests on lees (dead yeast cells.) In most wineries, the yeast cells are disgorged, generally by freezing the yeast plug and removing it, before final corking and caging.

    But Movia Puro Rose is one of the few wines that left this process out. When you order a bottle in a restaurant, the bottle is disgorged tableside underwater.

    Consider it a science experiment. When the neck is immersed in water, the cage is removed. From there, you’ll wait in eager anticipation as pressure builds up. Then, the cork pops out, along with the yeast plug.

    The wine is then poured and ready to drink, free of any yeast sediment. Supposedly the extra time on the yeast lends itself to a creamier wine. We’ll let you be the decider. If anything, it makes the evening more fun.

    See AJC

  • Olympic gold medalists Cullen Jones and Ryan Lochte talk about why they swim. #FunnestSport

    Courtesy of USA Swimming on YouTube

  • The Santa Clara Gold Rush, narrated by Bing Crosby and produced in 1968 tells the story of how George Haines helped to make Santa Clara world renown in the sport of swimming.

    Courtesy of swimminghalloffame on YouTube

  • Olympic silver medallist Keri-anne Payne and her Warrender teammate, IPC Swimming European silver medallist Scott Quin look ahead to this summer’s IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow with just 150 days to go.

    Courtesy of BritishSwimming on YouTube