Swimmer's Daily

  • Inside a small college in Conway, some of the best swimmers in Central Arkansas are racing for a trip to the state tournament. The stands are packed with parents, but most are cheering for one swimmer in particular: the swimmer in lane seven.

    He can hear it and feel it, but he can’t see it.

    “Worthy was born with a veil over his eyes,” said his mom, Bo Springer.

    Worthy Springer is blind.

    “He doesn’t see the ceiling or floor so he doesn’t have any boundaries,” Bo said. “He doesn’t accept the word I cannot. That is not in his vocabulary.”

    “Ever since my youth, I’ve never been concerned about what’s in front of me,” said Worthy.

    See KATV

  • A life-size statue commemorating fallen lifeguard Ben Carlson could soon be keeping watch over the Newport Beach coastline.

    City leaders, along with members of the Ben Carlson Memorial and Scholarship Foundation, are currently determining whether the Newport Pier or the Balboa Pier will be home to a 9-foot tall sculpture of the late lifeguard. The Newport Beach Arts Commission is expected to discuss and possibly take action on plans for the statue at its next meeting.

    Read LA Times

  • As Missy Franklin started to walk out of Berkeley’s Haas Pavilion, she flung her backpack over her shoulder and asked, “Anyone want to go to sociocultural anthropology?”

    There were no takers. Which is too bad. The sophomore swimmer won’t be able to offer that kind of invitation for much longer. The daily college grind portion of the 19-year-old Olympic champion’s life is about to end, at least for a little while. Franklin’s leaving Cal’s swim team to turn pro, eyes set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

    “This will, I guess, really start my professional career,” Franklin said of her upcoming transition. “This way I’ll be able to start my job and start my career and really start saving the money that’s going to sustain me, and hopefully, my future family for a while.”

    Read San Francisco Chronicle

  • One way to test your mettle in winter is to take one of those quick penguin plunges in icy water. But some stoic swimmers actually carve pools out of frozen lakes and race each other.

    The sport of winter swimming is popular abroad, especially in Russia, Scandinavia and China. But last weekend, a newly formed organization to promote winter swimming in the United States held its first national competition on the Vermont-Quebec border.

    Wrapped in down coats, competitors from all over the world waited in a warm lakeside restaurant in Newport, Vt., for the races to start. More than two dozen people from around the country raced in a two lane pool cut into the icy lake.

    Hometown favorite Brynna Tucker arrived with a cheering section of family and friends.

    “Yeah, it’s acclimating to the cold because most people forget that cold actually feels good,” she says. “If you have a sore knee, if you have a sore elbow, you put an ice pack on it, and the first nine seconds of that, it’s horrible.”

    But around the 10th second of swimming in icy water, she says her body shuts down in an oddly relaxing way.

    Read and listen to NPR

    http://youtu.be/pErXIP7mmjo

  • John Lewis intended only to say hello to Amy Van Dyken and get his picture taken with the six-time Olympic swimming gold medalist when he saw her at the UCLA-USC women’s swim meet last week.

    A former competitive swimmer and the father of swimmers, Lewis had followed Van Dyken’s career from afar — especially her 1996 and 2000 Olympic triumphs — and rooted for her as a fellow Coloradan.

    But when he approached Van Dyken, who is paralyzed from the waist down since she severed her spinal cord in a near-fatal ATV accident last June, his poise crumbled. “It was so emotional,” he said. “I started crying and said, ‘I’m so sorry.’”

    Van Dyken, preparing for her role as a commentator on the Pac-12 Networks’ telecast of the meet, comforted him and told him not to be sorry. “I was crying like crazy and she was smiling at me,” Lewis said.

    Van Dyken has learned to handle such occasions gracefully.

    “I understand that people are sorry that the accident happened. I’m sorry that it happened, too, but it’s an accident. Accidents happen,” she said. “And the things I’ve gotten to do since I’ve been sitting have been pretty cool. I’ve met some really fun people. I’m back at work, I’m back doing what I love, so don’t feel sorry for me.”

    Read LA Times

  • How long can you hold your breath for? Some free divers, who swim without a snorkel or scuba gear, can hold their breath for more than 10 minutes. For some, it’s a recreation while for others it’s a competitive sport. Amanda Smith (who can only hold her breath for one minute) takes a look.

    Read ABC

    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/192695751″ params=”color=ba0000″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Last year saw something of a revolution take place in the world of synchronized swimming. On November 29, 2014, a congress of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in Doha voted to include mixed-gender events in its world championships.

    The decision met with mixed reaction, with three-time Olympic champion Natalya Ishchenko going so far as to say that she was “embarrassed to imagine what it will look like with men in.”

    However, male synchronized swimmer Alexander Maltsev is undaunted by this scepticism. The Russian will become the first man from his nation to compete in the synchronised swimming World Championships, to be held in Kazan from July 29-August 9, 2015.

    Read The Telegraph

  • The coach of Mumbai’s state-level women’s swimming team was arrested on Monday for allegedly making a hoax call in an attempt to stop an Air India flight when he and his team of six girls failed to reach the Ranchi airport on time.

    By the time coach Narendra Achrekar made the call claiming there was a bomb on AI flight IC-810, the aircraft had already taken off and the team was left stranded at the Birsa Munda airport. […]

    “Achrekar made the hoax call to the Mumbai call centre… When it landed in the national capital, it was taxied to an isolation bay where Delhi authorities checked flight, passengers and baggage for explosives”, said Birsa Munda Airport director Raju Ragvendra Kumar, adding that the aircraft was eventually cleared but passengers had to face a significant delay.

    Airport officials said finding the hoax caller was easy since Achrekar and his team were the only passengers stranded at the airport. “Achrekar’s phone was tracked. The same number was also in the passenger database,” said Raju.

    Read Hindustan Times

    Photo by Aero Icarus

  • A short comedy and funny video about a professional swimmer, who swims in the streets of the Philippines. Featuring the improv comedians Maui Manalo and Miko Pepito of the Cardio Boys and Wow Mali. Shot in the streets of Marikina Philippines

    http://youtu.be/KBkVKS-A3O0