Swimmer's Daily

  • ‘There’s something in the water.’

  • Active Essex and Olympic swimming and TV personality Mark Foster launched “Get Active Essex” today, kicking off the sports campaign with a 3k park run in Central Park, Chelmsford.

    Get Active Essex is a campaign that aims to encourage a healthier and more active county. Around 80 people attended the first event, some running, others walking, and some even undertaking the course with babies in buggies.

    “We want to get as many people active in greater Essex a possible,” explained the chairman of Get Active, Gary Sullivan, who took part in the run.

    “With this event, obviously park running has become increasingly popular, and we wanted to show people that you can do 3k in your lunch break – you can walk it in half an hour and you can run it even faster.

    “So you can come back to your desk and treat yourself to that sandwich or cream bun knowing you have been active.”

    As well as the 3k run, the campaign’s launch also included other sports demonstrations, including dance, bowls and seated exercise.

    Mr Foster, who started the race, said: “When people start off doing anything, they are nervous or self-conscious and tend to look to role models like Usain Bolt, but there are so few Olympic athletes in the world, everyone starts somewhere so just get out there and do it.

    “When I took part in Strictly Come Dancing, it was a massive challenge for me because I was out of my comfort zone – before then the only dancing I did was nodding my head at weddings, but then I ended up really enjoying it, so it’s great for people to do something new.”

    See The Essex Chronicle

  • A dramatic scene played out at Oregon’s Fogarty Creek State Park on Saturday after five people had to be rescued from a rocky outcrop by helicopter and one more was saved by beachgoers who formed a human chain.

    A group of eight people between 18 and 30 years old were stranded on craggy rocks near Depoe Bay as high tide came in. As rough waves quickly swelled, to jump into the waves and swim back to shore, KATU reports. When a female swimmer began to struggle, a group of beachgoers went to heroic lengths to save her by forming a human chain in dangerously tumultuous surf and pulling her to safety.

    The female swimmer regained consciousness when rescuers arrived and was treated at a local hospital.

    See weather.com

    http://youtu.be/2neFNEqakv4

  • 15 year old Erik Nieman is a competitive swimmer with cyclic fibrosis. Make A Wish Foundation gave him the opportunity to train with olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.

  • June 6, 2014 is a day that has forever changed the Franklin community. On that Friday, six teenagers from Franklin Community High School were along the Big Blue River Dam, when Sarah McLevish, 16, became trapped in the churning water.

    Two other teenagers, Michael Chadbourne and Jason Moran, died trying to save her.

    McLevish spent eleven weeks in two different Indianapolis hospitals. She has been at home with her family since August 21.

    “The family room has become Sarah’s room; overwhelmingly Sarah’s room,” her mom, Bobbi Hubbard, laughed.

    Hubbard and her other daughter, Kaitlin, transformed the room. On the walls, there are several pictures, including a photo collage friends made that spells out “SARAH.”

    “They are memories that she’ll hopefully remember,” Hubbard said.

    They show the happier times of a typical teenager. But for McLevish, those moments – and her life – have all been put on hold after a brain injury from the near drowning in early June.

    “Everything has changed,” Hubbard said.

    See WTHR

    13 WTHR Indianapolis

  • Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of teams find different ways to promote breast cancer awareness, through pink uniforms or accessories. Spencer took it to a new level on Monday, turning a swimming pool pink for their high school swim meet.

    The pool had a slightly pink hue as the “Pink Out” was held at the Spencer Family YMCA. The meet was held in honor of Spencer swimmer Cassidy Fox, who’s mother Missy is battling breast cancer.

    The swimmers, who come from Spencer, Spirit Lake and Hartley, sold raffle tickets and one winner from each school was drawn to toss in the principal of their school.

    All the proceeds from the event will go toward the Fox family.

    “It means a lot,” said Spencer senior Taylor Sieperda. “We’ve gone to different sporting events and been there for the awareness. But now it’s personal, and so we’re really taking pride in it, and just being there for the family. It’s been really nice.”

    See KTIV

    KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

  • Five-time Olympic Games medallist Alicia Coutts has contemplated an immediate retirement from swimming, declaring “if I retired tomorrow, I would be satisfied with what I’ve done in the sport”.

    Canberra swimmer Coutts also hit out at the sport’s critics, saying that constant criticism was “disheartening” as she weighs up her future.

    It was speculated last week that Swimming Australia had blown its budget and would be unable to pay athletes up to $300,000 in performance bonuses.

    Coutts is yet to hear from the governing body and is training for the Australian short-course championships in Adelaide next month.

    The 27-year-old won five medals at the Olympics in 2012, she also won two gold medals at the Pan Pacs in August and is an eight-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

    But she says she is fighting to keep her passion and is unsure whether she wants to continue to the Rio Olympics in 2016.

    “I’m looking towards Rio and if I swim until then, I’ll be done after that,” Coutts said.

    “I have days when I think, ‘Yeah, I can swim until Rio. It’s not that far away.’ But then other days I’m ready to retire straight away.

    Read The Sydney Morning Herald

  • Deja the F2B Savannah cat goes swimming for the first time in the family pool. Watch as the adorable 3-month-old kitten treads water with confidence while wearing her personal life jacket.

  • Cesar Cielo is calling you to volunteer. Accept the challenge? Then BOOOORAAAA!