Swimmer's Daily

  • Kauai beachgoers saved three people from drowning in waters off Kauapea Beach on Tuesday.

    Officials say a 42-year-old Austrian man initially found himself in distress, which prompted a 24-year-old Kilauea man to help him. Then a 50-year-old Kauai woman entered the water after seeing the men both struggle.

    Firefighters say upon their arrival, they found nearly a dozen beachgoers had formed a human chain to pull the two swimmers back to shore.

    “The quick-thinking and cooperation of this group of strangers likely saved three people from drowning on Tuesday,” fire chief Robert Westerman said. “The rescue tube placed at Kauapea had apparently been damaged. The lanyards were cut off, making it unsafe for anyone to use in a rescue. This is yet another example of how vandalism hurts our entire community.”

    Fire crews were able to help the third swimmer from the water.

    KITV

  • According to the U.S. Coast Guard, Konrad fell into the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday and only survived because he was able to swim nine miles to shore. The Coast Guard told WPTV in West Palm Beach, Fla., that Konrad was picked up at 4:40 a.m. on Thursday and taken to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia.

    Konrad had been fishing by himself when he fell in the ocean. According to the Coast Guard, Konrad’s boat was on cruise control when he went overboard, so the boat continued on its predetermined route.

    Read CBS Sports

  • FINA is pleased to announce the calendar of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2015, running from August to November, and distributing over US$ 2 million in prize money. This prestigious 25m-pool circuit will comprise eight meets distributed over three clusters.

    Immediately after the conclusion of the FINA World Championships in Kazan (RUS), the best athletes of the planet will travel to Moscow, also in Russia, to compete in the initial leg of the series, on August 11-12. Three days later, a new location – Chartres-Paris (FRA) – will certainly attract many stars.

    The competition then proceeds to the Asian cluster, with events in Hong Kong (HKG), Beijing (CHN) and Singapore (SIN). Finally, the FINA Swimming World Cup comes to an end in the third cluster, comprising stops in Tokyo (JPN), Doha (QAT) and Dubai (UAE).

    The complete calendar of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2015 is as follows:

    Cluster 1
    Moscow (RUS), August 11-12, 2015
    Chartres-Paris (FRA), August 15-16, 2015

    Cluster 2
    Hong Kong (HKG), September 25-26, 2015
    Beijing (CHN), September 29-30, 2015
    Singapore (SIN), October 3-4, 2015

    Cluster 3
    Tokyo (JPN), October 28-29, 2015
    Doha (QAT), November 2-3, 2015
    Dubai (UAE), November 6-7, 2015

    “The 2015 edition of this World Cup has definitively a very attractive calendar, and will be attended by our best swimmers. Everything will be put in place to ensure great excitement and superb performances during this circuit, which became an important reference in the international swimming calendar”, considered the FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione.

    Katinka Hosszu (HUN), among women, and Chad Le Clos (RSA) in the men’s field, were the overall winners of the 2014 edition. Some weeks after their consecration in the series, they were voted the FINA Best Swimmers of Year and were also the athletes in evidence in the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), in Doha (QAT).

    Press release from FINA

  • Like watching freediving videos filmed on GoPro cameras? Well, the company announced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the launching of the GoPro Channel app for LG Smart TVs.

    See DeeperBlue

  • lars-green-bachThe Danish Swimming Federation appoints a High Performance Manager

    The new High Performance Manager comes from a position at Team Denmark and he also has many years of experience working for swimming clubs behind him.

    It is with great pleasure that the Danish Swimming Federation can announce that the Federation’s new High Performance Manager from 1st February 2015 is Lars Green Bach.

    Lars has a long background in swimming. He has, among other things, been head coach at Swimming Club 68, Hjørring (2000 – 2003) and West Brøndby Swimming Club (2006 – 2008). Over a three-year period (2003 – 2006), Lars was also the high performance coach and head of Lyngby Swimming Club. However, in 2008, Lars changed his many years of working poolside for a job at Team Denmark, where he currently works as a team leader for talent and skills development.

    Over the years, Lars has been directly affiliated with the Danish Swimming Federation in the work to develop the Federation’s coach programme, and since 2003 he has been an instructor on the Federation’s coach programme, and since 2011, as programme functional manager for the Federation’s coach programme. He has also completed the highest coach programme in Denmark in the form of the Sport’s Coach Academy (ITA).

    As head of the Danish Swimming Federation’s sports department, Lars will have overall responsibility to continue the implementation of the 2016 Danish Swimming Plan and so ensure that there is a common thread from the smallest national championship to the largest international championship (World Championships and Olympics). The new High Performance Manager will have overall technical and organisational responsibility for the Danish Swimming Federation’s competition activities, as well as national and international high performance, just as he will have overall management responsibility for the Sports Department.

    Lars Green Bach has this to say about his future job:
    “I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to lead the Sports Department of one of Denmark’s traditional sports. There is a fantastic foundation of sporting potential in swimming, both in the short and long-term, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with Denmark’s many passionate swimmers, coaches and leaders to realise this potential and translate it into international results,” says the Danish Swimming Federation’s future High Performance Manager, and he continues: “High performance sport is undergoing rapid development. This also applies to swimming. The challenges place great demands on all of us for a focused and unified contribution to our daily work. I believe that we, in Danish swimming, are able to further develop the strong framework for the sport of swimming that there is in Denmark.”
    The Danish Swimming Federation is pleased to have signed a contract with Lars Green Bach:
    “The process of finding the right person to lead the prospective work of the Sports Department has, of course, taken up much of our time over the last couple of months. It’s vital that we have a person with the right profile for this position. In this respect, I’m really pleased we have Lars Green Bach on the team. He has the right background to fill the position and I’m convinced that Danish high performance swimming will be further strengthened as a result of Lars Green Bach’s contribution in the coming years,” says Pia Holmen, Director of the Danish Swimming Federation.

    There are also good expectations at Team Denmark for the new High Performance Manager:
    “At Team Denmark, we are proud that the Danish Swimming Federation has appointed Lars Green Bach as High Performance Manager. We are also delighted that Lars’ skills will continue to benefit high performance sport. We are convinced that the Danish Swimming Federation will benefit greatly from Lars’ professionalism and experience in the position of High Performance Manager. Lars joined Team Denmark in 2008, when he also qualified as a biologist. Combined with his duties at Team Denmark, a coaching accreditation at the highest level (ITA), and previous coaching appointments for various swimming clubs, Lars is now ready for the job of High Performance Manager on his own “home ground”. Team Denmark wishes Lars and the Danish Swimming Federation all the best in their collaboration,” says Per Boldt Jørgensen, head consultant and acting head of Team Denmark.

    Lars Green Bach has a master’s degree in biology from the University of Copenhagen, he lives in Skovlunde, near Copenhagen, is married and father to three children.

    Press release from the Danish Swimming Federation

    Photo courtesy of Team Danmark

  • Jennifer Aniston’s fear of going underwater stems from a childhood trauma.

    “I was a kid and I was riding this tricycle around a swimming pool and I drove my tricycle into the swimming pool and I didn’t let go and my brother tried to [help me],” the actress told E! News.

    “I basically have a real fear of going underwater,” said Aniston, adding that “no one” believes the phobia is real.

    The 45-year-old had to face her fear head-on while filming her new movie “Cake,” in which she plays a woman suffering from chronic pain and an addiction to prescription painkillers who partakes in water therapy.

    See Page Six

  • Three men are $30,000 closer to achieving their goal of building a natural swimming hole in the center of the city.

    The Houston Needs a Swimming Hole! Kickstarter page has surpassed its $30,000 goal with three days left to donate. Jeff Kaplan and his partners are on their way to create a natural escape in an urban environment.

    “It is so hot here, and there aren’t a lot of outs,” Kaplan said. “Unless you live in a fancy new apartment building or have a pool at your house, you don’t have a lot of options to jump in a body of water unless you drive to Galveston.”

    See ABC13

  • Onlookers were expecting a shark when lifeguards blew warning whistles, but instead the 1.5-metre snake made its way to the shore from between the flags at the beach at Forster.

    Cape Hawke Surf Lifesaving Club president Paul Scott said it was unusual for a brown snake to be at the beach.

    “It’s odd to see a snake which is a land-dwelling creature at the beach,” he said.

    “You see the odd sea snake in the water, but a brown snake is quite unusual. You see snakes around the beach but not in the water.”

    While beachgoers may have been shocked by the snake, it did not cause any harm, Mr Scott added.

    “No lives were lost,” he said. “No lives were in danger.”

    Mr Scott also said he was impressed that the snake knew where to swim.

    “It was doing the right thing and swimming between the flags,” he said.

    Read ABC

  • How sexist is the US Senate? So far, only 44 women have ever served as Senators, meaning, according to this Politico article examining the gender imbalance in the upper house, the male Senators think they have the entire place to themselves — including the Senate pool, where they apparently swim with each other while naked.

    This mind-searing anecdote comes courtesy of Sen. Kay Hagan (R-NC), who discovered this fact as a freshman Senator in 2008. According to the story, she was told that the Senate swimming pool was males-only, “because some of the male senators liked to swim naked.”

    A spokeswoman for the Senate gym told a North Carolina paper at the time that the pool was open to everyone, but according to Politico, it seemed to be an informal rule that only exposed penises were allowed to bathe in the cool Senate waters:

    It took an intervention by Senator Chuck Schumer, head of the Rules Committee, to put a stop to the practice, but even then “it was a fight,” remembers pollster Celinda Lake, who heard about the incident when the pool revolt was the talk among Washington women.

    Read MEDIAite