Swimmer's Daily

  • Yesterday in Tórshavn (Thor’s Harbour, our capitol), I was elected president of the Faroe Islands Swimming Association. A maybe logical but still humbling milestone for me personally, to be appointed head of this tiny federation of ours, that these past few years has seen successes as never before.

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    Former president Jon Hestoy had announced last year that he would be resigning now, and I guess that I as vice president was one of the natural candidates. But it is a major task, as he has been actively involved in pretty much everything that the federation does, and it therefore took until this spring before I mustered the courage to put myself forward.

    As it turned out, I ended up the only candidate, and was elected president for the next two years. I have received a for me tremendous amount of congratulations and good luck wishes since then, and will be needing especially the latter, as we roll our sleeves up and start working.

    One major decision at the congress yesterday, was that we will be taking the European Swimming League (LEN) to the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS), to fight LEN’s decision to block us out of the 2015 European Junior Championships.

    This has been an ongoing dispute between us and LEN since it became clear that the inclusion of the European Juniors in the Baku 2015 European Games would mean that we and Gibraltar as non-Olympic nations but full members of LEN and FINA would not be able to participate under our own flags, disregarding the LEN constitution that states that all member federations shall have the right to take part in LEN events.

    This culminated with our now former president Hestoy taking the floor at the LEN Congress at Lake Guarda (ITA) earlier this month, arguing our case and asking member nations to vote against the Bureau report, which several did.

    Now yesterday, our congress voted unanimously to fight this decision, by taking it to the Court of Arbitration of Sport. For me as new president, it was heartwarming to see the passion and determination stirred in club presidents and other congress attendees, when faced with this situation. We feel that our right to exist as full member of LEN is threatened, and have therefore no other option than to fight against this decision, as much as we can.

    More to follow, undoubtedly. Turning back to my situation, for instance when it comes to blogging here on Swimmer’s Daily, I’m not totally decided yet. I don’t know if it has ever been done before, to be president of a sport federation while chit-chat blogging about whatever else one finds interesting in the sport. I would like to keep it like it is – ‘a fast fix blog about swimming’ – but this might be tricky the more I get involved in heavy stuff like our dispute now with LEN.

    And then there is the problem with finding time for everything, of course :-)

    We’ll see.

    For now a good day to you all !

    Rókur í Jákupsstovu

    Featured photo is me and our two youngest taking a break during our climb of the old walking route from Gásadálur towards mainland, the day before yesterday. They’ve got stamina!

    This was our view

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  • Hawaiian surfer Koa Smith shot GoPro video of an impressive 27-second ride inside the the tube of a wave at Skeleton Bay in Namibia, Africa.

    Via Laughing Squid

  • The 16th FINA World Championships will be held in Kazan, Russia, from July 24 – August 9, 2015. Kazan has now developed the most advanced sporting infrastructure in all of Russia and has one of the most advanced Aquatic facilities in the world.

  • A Commerce City woman says she was not allowed to use the pool at the local rec center because her clothing doesn’t conform to pool rules. Jaclyn Allen has the story.

    Courtesy of 7 NEWS – The Denver Channel

  • ‘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