Swimmer's Daily

  • James Magnussen will battle on with a degenerative back for the rest of his swimming career after scans revealed the extent of the damage to the injury that plagued his Commonwealth Games.

    Magnussen still walked away from Glasgow with two gold medals, but swam in pain towards the end of the meet. While the injury has long-term repercussions for the Commonwealth 100 metre freestyle champion, it won’t keep him out of the Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast from August 21. Magnussen received the results on Tuesday.

    “It’s been an ongoing issue for a number of years,” Magnussen said. “Recently it has flared up worse than the past. [The MRI scans] found degenerative damage from the last few years when I grew quite quickly, probably too quickly for what my body was prepared for. There’s a few minor disc issues and some facet joint issues. There is a bit going on there but I’ll stay on top of it with my recovery and preparation and do the best I can. I’ve had back issues in the past. I’m used to dealing with them.”

    Read The Sydney Morning Herald

  • The first edition of the FINA High Diving World Cup will take place in Kazan (RUS), on August 8-10, 2014 gathering the best world athletes in this exciting discipline. This competition will be the first stand-alone event for FINA in High Diving, after its inclusion in the programme of the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona (ESP).

    34 divers (25 men and 9 women) representing 16 nations will perform in Kazan, including the 2013 world medallists Orlando Duque (COL), Gary Hunt (GBR) and Jonathan Paredes (MEX) among men and Cesilie Carlton (USA), Ginger Huber (USA) and Anna Bader (GER) in the women’s field. Other male athletes to watch are Steven LoBue (USA) and Artem Silchenko (RUS), shining in the 2014 edition of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, while Rachelle Simpson (USA) and Tara Hyer-Tira (USA) are also in good shape this season in this circuit.

    The three-day competition includes one men’s session (from the 27m platform) on August 8, in which three rounds of dives will be performed. The best 18 ranked divers after this first session will compete on August 10 in the fourth round of dives, while another selection of the best 12 competitors will be made to the fifth and last round also on Sunday. On August 9, the women’s session (from the 20m platform) will comprise three rounds of dives.

    See press release on fina.org

  • Courtesy of Swimming Australia on YouTube

  • You’ve seen surfing dogs. Now meet Kama. Kama and owner Kai Holt and hit Sandy Beach for a surf session with the locals in.

    Courtesy of GoPro on YouTube

  • Courtesy of USA Swimming

  • A New Jersey teen attempting to become the youngest swimmer to complete three endurance ocean swims arrived in Rancho Palos Verdes Monday evening after swimming for nearly 20 hours.

    Charlotte Samuels, 16, finished swimming across the Catalina Island Channel shortly before 8 p.m. She began the 20.2-mile swim around midnight under the nearly pitch-black sky.

    “I haven’t slept for two days, so I’m just tired mentally and physically,” Samuels said.

    See video on ABC7

    http://youtu.be/tDnGtsXUtyo

  • A woman sneaked into the seal pool of Berlin Zoo on Monday night, risking serious injury to take a swim with the animals after closing time, zoo authorities said.

    A witness told German daily Bild: “I watched as the woman stripped to her bikini and then lowered herself into the seal pool. Further back was a man taking photos.”

    Read Reuters

  • A young man from Morocco has arrived in Alaska with an ambitious goal. Twenty-seven-year-old Hassan Baraka wants to be the first Moroccan to swim between every continent on the globe.

    Baraka is an ambassador for his country, particularly Moroccan Princess Lalla Hasna. Hasna was appointed by the United Nations to bring awareness to coastal issues. The project also carries an environmental message, Baraka said.

    “Because now days our oceans are not very clean and I want to send this message to the world, that we have to protect our seas and shores,” Baraka said.

    See video on KTVA Alaska

  • The Australian Commonwealth Games Association has responded to claims Tasmania was left off the map on a team uniform, saying it “would never knowingly do anything to offend the people of Tasmania”.

    Chief executive Perry Crosswhite replied to a letter from Premier Will Hodgman saying “it is regrettable that some people were offended by the apparent slight to Tasmania”.

    Swimsuits worn by athletes in Glasgow feature kangaroos, emus and maps of Australia, but no visible sign of Tassie.

    Following the omission, the State Government and the Mercury joined in a campaign to promote Tasmania to the world and put it back on the map.

    “Speedo, the designers and manufacturers of the training swimsuit, advise that Tasmania is in fact included in the training swimsuits,” Mr Crosswhite said.

    He maintains that while the design and placement of Australia and the kangaroo is different for each garment all include Tasmania, but “at times the kangaroo covers the ‘area’ where Tasmania is”.

    Read Perth Now