Swimmer's Daily

  • New details in the DUI arrest of swimming superstar Michael Phelps, reports WJZ.

    Michael Phelps had been out gambling just prior to his arrest. Police say when his luck ran out, his blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit.

    Police say Olympian Michael Phelps smelled of alcohol when he was stopped in his white Land Rover for a DUI on I-95 North just past the Fort McHenry Tunnel Toll Plaza early Tuesday morning.

    According to the police statement of probable cause, officers noticed Phelps’ eyes were “red, bloodshot and his speech was mush mouth.” Phelps told police he had “3 or 4 drinks” and had just left the “Horseshoe” Casino. When officers asked him to walk heel to toe in a straight line, he had “difficulty with his balance. When asked to stand on one leg, he told police “that’s not happening.”

    Read CBS News

    http://youtu.be/9hq-xamzzYM

    http://youtu.be/8P_HhqliV18

  • Ian Thorpe has become a doctor, adding another award to his adorned mantlepiece.

    The Australian swimming great was presented with an honorary doctorate of letters from Macquarie University in Sydney.

    It recognises the 31-year-old’s achievements in sport, philanthropy and Indigenous rights.

    Thorpe was greeted with applause from university graduates where he once studied an arts degree as he accepted the doctorate.

    He apologised for not being actor Cate Blanchett, who was recently presented the same honour.

    “I know some of you may be tremendously disappointed,” he said on Wednesday.

    “Cate Blanchett gave one of these addresses just a week ago and you’re stuck with me.”

    Read The Guardian and Macquarie University

    http://youtu.be/RAqwASOaEAo

    http://youtu.be/5KcjgZjqcqs

  • Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was once more the athlete to beat in the third leg of the FINA/MASTBANK Swimming World Cup, organised in Hong Kong (HKG) on September 29-30, 2014. Out of the 17 individual events, the Magyar athlete got 10 gold medals, an unprecedented achievement in a single meet of this competition. Among men, things were more balanced, with four victories each for Chad Le Clos (RSA) and Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS).

    Hosszu’s golden collection in Hong Kong included wins in the 200m, 400m and 800m free, 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke, 200m butterfly, 100m, 200m and 400m individual medley. The Hungarian star, winner of the series in 2012 and 2013, was also silver medallist in the 50m free and 50m butterfly. Moreover, her triumph in the 100m backstroke in a time of 55.34 was the most valuable performance in the women’s field (994 points).

    Read press release on fina.org

  • Perth swimming champion Eamon Sullivan was a splash hit with a romantic foxtrot full of lifts and spins on last night’s premiere of Dancing with the Stars.

    The triple Olympian, who recently retired from swimming, impressed three of the four judges with help from his professional dance partner Kalamunda’s Ash-Leigh Hunter.

    Though judge Todd McKenney told the 29-year-old his poor posture made it look like he was “pulling a dead body out”, Adam Garcia likened the former world record holder’s dancing to entertainment icon Fred Astaire.

    “It was really sweet, smooth and successful,” Garcia said.

    “You have a natural grace.”

    Read The West Australian

    See the full clip here on Dancing With The Stars

    http://youtu.be/pfoqRnXYzpY

  • A teenage boy had two Auckland police officers swimming after him in a short-lived chase that turned aquatic this morning.

    The youth was reported by members of the public to be driving erratically about 10.30am in the Ellerslie and Panmure area, speeding and weaving in and out of lanes, Inspector Ian Brooker said.

    Police checks revealed the car was stolen and a helicopter and officers followed him for 15 minutes although a pursuit was never initiated.

    When the offender realised he was being watched he ditched the car, a Mazda station wagon, at the Tamaki estuary near Mt Wellington and attempted to swim across the waterways.

    Two Counties Manukau police officers went in after him and a police spokeswoman said the offender was caught very quickly although the policemen had returned to the station “pretty stinky”.

    Read stuff.co.nz

    Photo by Simon_sees

  • Fazza Freediving Champion, Branko Petrovic, will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater also known as static apnea next month.

    The existing record of 11 minutes and 35 seconds underwater on a single breath of air was set by Stephane Mifsud of France in 2009.

    The Guinness World Record attempt will take place at Skydive Dubai on Friday 10th of October at 5pm during the middle east’s first extreme sports expo organised by SPEARO Freediving Magazine.

    “I am very confident that I can break the existing world record,” Petrovic said adding “The Guinness World Records in static apnea were set while freedivers hold their breath on the surface of a swimming pool. At the Fazza Freediving Championships we need to hold our breath, dive down to 4 meters and ascend to the surface once we have reached our limits which makes it arguably the most challenging breath hold tournament in the world.”

    Branko earlier this year took 1st place in March at the 2014 Fazza Freediving Championships with a time of 9 minutes and 36 seconds. During the qualification round Branko also set a new competition record of 9 minutes and 47 seconds.

    Zarir Saifuddin, owner of SPEARO Freediving Magazine and Main Organiser of the extreme sports expo, said “the world record for the longest breath-hold has not been broken in 5 years due to the enormous challenge freedivers face in passing 11 minutes underwater on one breath. If a new record is set in Dubai I do not think it will be broken for many years to come – if ever.”

    Read PR Newswire

  • Two Gold Coast adventurers in Australia have had a rare close encounter with humpback whales off South Stradbroke Island. A mother humpback whale and her calf approached the swimmers, diving deep out of sight and then rising slowly next to their new friends. This exchanged happened for about an hour, enough time for one of the swimmers to take a selfie with the majestic giants.

    See kxan

    http://youtu.be/L4HStRcVb3A

  • It’s the oldest record still standing in the Northern Virginia Swimming League.

    Over the decades, young swimmers in high-tech suits and year-round training regimens have shattered nearly all of those creaky old race times.

    But no team has been able to match what the Four Amigos did that day in the Vienna Woods pool in 1963, swimming a 100-yard medley relay in 58.4 seconds, when the Beatles were playing on the radio and the big reward after the race was one of those 15-cent hamburgers at that new place, the McDonald’s.

    Until now. Maybe.

    They’d decided to gather again, these Four Amigos, 51 years later.

    It was a pact they made a year ago, when they came back to the Vienna Woods swim club for a 50-year reunion and saw their record stood firm.

    And when Roger Williams, 63, strolled onto the pool deck Saturday afternoon, it was clear they had a shot.

    Williams has been living in California, where he played water polo in college, trained with Mark Spitz and worked on his tan. He’s tall, lean and muscular and still swims and wins in master’s events all over the country. He looks like a boomer Ken doll, if Mattel had made one.

    He slices into the water and starts doing laps, a warmup that would kill others.

    He’d been training all year for this.

    “I feel 30, maybe 35 years old,” he tells me, in between laps.

    Not everyone has been training for a year.

    See The Washington Post

  • A 34-year-old man will have to make an appearance in court after he went for a swim in the frigid South Saskatchewan River Sunday afternoon.

    The man was wearing a wetsuit and appeared to be a strong swimmer, but that didn’t prevent the Saskatoon Fire Department from launching its water rescue boat.

    People on shore looked on in disbelief as rescuers positioned themselves to bring him on board.

    The man was swimming between the University and Broadway bridges when the boat reached him. He got in to the boat and was brought to shore where police were waiting for him.

    A city bylaw bans swimming in the river. The man received a ticket from police and will have to make a mandatory court appearance for the offence.

    The air temperature Sunday afternoon when the man was in the water was eight degrees Celsius.

    See story and video on CTV News

    Photo by Canadian Light Source synchrotron