Swimmer's Daily

  • allison-defrancescoRead VailDaily

    When doctors declared Allison DeFrancesco in remission from cancer at the age of 21, they told her to “You’re done (with treatment.) Go be normal.”

    “I thought, ‘What does that mean?’” said DeFrancesco, who was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a collegiate swimmer at New York University. She spent a couple years in treatment, finally receiving a bone marrow transplant. The process robbed her of her swimming season, graduation and left her tired and discouraged.

    As she struggled to get back on her feet post-cancer, she was hit with another blow — her coach and mentor, Lauren Beam, died of colon cancer in 2011. She wanted to do something in memory of Beam, something that would keep her from defining herself as a “cancer survivor” and nothing else.

    “Why not swim the English Channel?” she thought.

  • Read The Standard (Hong Kong)

    The public swimming pool in Victoria Park was forced to close for several hours yesterday morning when eight of its 11 lifeguards took sick leave.
    The closure left scores of swimmers fuming, with the pool only reopening in the afternoon when a sufficient number of lifeguards reported for duty.

    The lifeguards were believed to be protesting the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s refusal to listen to their demands to increase manpower at Victoria Park and other public pools.

    The action began with three lifeguards taking sick leave, leaving only eight working at the pool.

    Since the complex requires at least nine lifeguards to be on duty, the department closed a multipurpose pool, but left the main pool open.

    Around 10.15am, five more lifeguards went off sick, forcing the department to close the main pool.

    Photo by MichaelTyler

  • Read nwfdailynews.com

    The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office identified Robert David Walters as the man pulled from the Santa Rosa Sound Monday after trying to swim cross the waterway on a dare.

    The 53-year-old man was still in very critical condition at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center Tuesday afternoon, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Michele Nicholson.

    Walters was in cardiac arrest when a bystander pulled him to shore near the Nauti Girls restaurant under the Brooks Bridge about 3 p.m., said Capt. David Stone with the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department.

    Firefighters and emergency medical personnel were able to obtain a pulse before rushing him to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, Stone said.

    Photo by Infrogmation

  • lauren-boyle“Horse whisperer of swimming”, as they often call him.

    Read stuff.co.nz

    Lauren Boyle’s success in the pool over the past two years has come as no surprise to renowned American swimming coach Milton Nelms.

    For the past 12 years, Nelms, who resides in Tasmania, has visited Christchurch’s AquaGym Swim Club, which is owned by good friend and former Kiwi swimmer Brett Naylor. […]

    At the age of 26, Boyle is a late bloomer when it comes to international swimming.

    Nelms said it was “not typical” for a swimmer to be in the best form of their career at her age. He believed that spoke volumes about Boyle’s strong-willed demeanour.

    “I think it’s unheard of for somebody to make a move to the international level at her age in her events. I don’t recall it ever having been done before.”

    The exciting news for New Zealand swimming is Nelms is confident she has the potential to cut down her times.

    “She can still get faster,” he said. “She’s had a number of coaches, but she manages to find the upside in all those different environments and pull herself together.

  • katies-first-pitch-surprise

    Todd Anderson proposes to Katie Hoff at Rays game in Tampa!

    (Warning, vertical video)

    Featured photo by Vironevaeh

  • Via the17thman

    Olympic swimmers Chad le Clos and Alexander Popov visited the OMEGA Pavilion in Sochi’s Olympic Park on 22 February, 2014 for a unique question-and-answer session that focused on their Olympic accomplishments and the factors behind their success.

  • Last week, Irina Shayk, girlfriend of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model swam with pigs in the Bahamas. Real pigs, that is. See for instance Page Six

    She filmed other people swimming with them too

    Photo by cdorobek

  • See Muvi TV

    Zambian Swimmers Have High Hopes Of recording successes at this week’s Confederation of Aquatic Nations Association CANA Zone three and four swimming gala to be held in Uganda from April 24th to 27th 2014.

    Swimming sensation, Tilka Paljk, says she is aiming for gold to better her 2013 record in which she took silver, while Kumareen Naidu has hopes of sweeping as many medals as he can.

    12 year old Harleena Naidu will be making her debut at the competition, but believes her preparations have made her a medal hopeful.

    A total of 33 swimmers will leave for Kampala on Tuesday to take part in the competition, which has attracted over 15 countries.

  • See CBS 5

    The body of a 10-year-old girl who had spent part of Easter rafting with her cousins was pulled from Saguaro Lake on Sunday afternoon.

    The girl and two cousins, ages 12 and 16 years old, were on an inner tube about 1:30 p.m. when the 10-year-old lost her grip on a handle and the tube flipped, tossing all three girls into the water, said Maricopa Sheriff’s Deputy Joaquin Enriquez.

    The inner tube floated away and the two girls screamed for help, which were heard by a family member and another person on Butcher Jones Beach, Enriquez said.

    They jumped into the water and rescued the two girls, but the third never resurfaced in the water about 19 miles east of Fountain Hills, Enriquez said.

    CBS 5 – KPHO