Swimmer's Daily

  • See tv2.no

    The Norwegian Short Course Champs started with a bang Thursday, with youngsters clocking a total of six Norwegian records, nine Norwegian junior records and two world records for disabled people.

    17-year-old Henrik Christiansen demolished Gard Kvale’s 7:50.45 Norwegian record in the 800 freestyle from back in 2005, with a time of 7:43.26 now.

    Also 17-year-old Armin Porobic erased Thomas Sopp’s 22-year-old Norwegian record from 1992 in the 200 back, taking it down from 1:57.56 to 1:56.08.

    (more…)

  • Image courtesy of Sarah Ewart, CC BY-SA 3.0
    Image courtesy of Sarah Ewart, CC BY-SA 3.0

    Read The Guardian

    Grant Hackett’s former coach says the Olympic swimming champion’s Stilnox addiction is the price he paid for his success in the pool.

    Hackett’s long-time mentor Denis Cotterell says the triple Olympic gold medallist was given the sleeping medication by team officials who didn’t tell him it was addictive until he’d been taking it for years.

    Cotterell said Hackett was given Stilnox by team staff throughout his career, which included a decade-long unbeaten 1500m freestyle run, to aid sleep on long team flights and on the eve of a big race.

    Cotterell said staff only told them it was addictive years after first offering it. “Unfortunately being on those teams so long probably deepened the addiction,” he said.

    Asked if the addiction was the price Hackett paid for his success, Cotterell said: “Absolutely. We would go on a plane and the doctor gave us some because he couldn’t go to sleep.

    “He started doing that every meet. And when you are on the team for 12 years, and you are winning, you don’t change too much. “Then all of a sudden they turn around and say, ‘By the way it is addictive.’”

  • See Sydney Morning Herald, ninemsn, ABC, news.com.au

    Olympic swimming champion Grant Hackett has left rehab saying he feels proud he had the courage to seek treatment for a sleeping pill addiction.The triple gold medallist spoke about his experience at Los Angeles Airport on Wednesday for the first time since checking himself into a US rehab centre five weeks ago.

    He had been battling a dependency on the controversial Stilnox medication.

    “It just gets to a situation in life where you’re not coping too well, and you need to put your hand up and ask for help – I certainly got to that situation,’’ Hackett told Channel Nine.

    “I feel proud of myself that I had the strength and courage to do that, because I want to have a great and happy life ahead of me.
    “I want to be a great father and I want to do all those things properly.

  • Highlights from the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships, here Cameron McEvoy talking about the men’s 200 meter freestyle and Alicia Coutts talking about the women’s 100 butterfly.

  • See kfyr-tv

    This past weekend was the grand opening of the brand new Williston Recreation Center. On Saturday, the lap pool was opened and the 2012 800 meter Olympic champion, Katie Ledecky, came to swim the first lap in the pool dedicated to her grandfather Edward Hagan.

    Ledecky has family in the Williston area that came out to watch the dedication ceremony. Ledecky was excited to come back to Williston and spend time at the new recreation center.

    “It’s great to be here in Williston. It’s just an awesome city, with awesome people. This is a beautiful facility that I can’t wait to see more of and I can’t wait to swim the first lap in honor of my grandpa,” says Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky.

    KFYRTV.COM – Bismarck, ND – News, Weather, Sports

  • Read Yle

    An elderly Russian swimmer who participated in the World Winter Swimming Championship in Rovaniemi, northern Finland has passed away. The man competed in the 450-metre endurance race in the 70 – 74-year old age group.

    The veteran Russian swimmer took ill while competing while competing during the competition’s opening day on March 20. He was given first aid on the scene and later taken to the Oulu University Hospital.

    The local travel and tour company Rovaniemi Tourism and Marketing announced Tuesday that the swimmer later died and that his relatives were informed of his passing.

  • Read Sydney Morning Herald

    Some sporting careers do not travel the easiest path, and so it is with Melanie Schlanger, for whom it would not seem normal if she was not battling an illness or injury in preparation for a major competition.

    Schlanger has defied doctor’s orders to compete in Brisbane this week at the selection trials for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

    The 27-year-old has been hampered for the past 18 months by illness and rib and shoulder injuries that forced her withdrawal from last year’s world championships team.

    She damaged another rib earlier this year and was told to rest for six weeks. But with less than three months to the selection trials, she decided to push ahead with her preparation to give herself the best chance to qualify for the Australian team at the Commonwealth Games.

  • Read Brandon Sun

    Ryan Cochrane’s illustrious swimming career, he says, has come down to a “lot of lasts.”

    He’ll compete at the Canadian swimming trials this weekend in Victoria to make the team for what will be his last Commonwealth Games.

    Next summer will mark his last world championships. The 2016 Rio Games will be his last Olympics.

    “The four years between Beijing and London (Olympics) went by like a whirlwind and I think the older you get the faster those years go by, so I’m just trying to make sure I make the most of all these last chances I get,” Cochrane said. “It’s kind of narrowing down … it’s an exciting prospect but you also have to be ready for the final chances you have at representing yourself and putting all this work you worked so hard for to good use.”

  • Read ninemsn

    For someone who has contemplated retirement, Alicia Coutts can’t seem to stop thinking about swimming.

    Even when the five-time London Olympic medallist sat down to plan her 2015 wedding the sport seemed to creep into her subconscious.

    Coutts, 26, has adopted a year-by-year approach despite being inspired by a post-2012 Olympic chat with former champion Susie O’Neill.

    However, Coutts appears to have already made her mind up about powering onto the 2015 world titles in Russia – she just didn’t realise it straight away.

    “I have scheduled my wedding around the world championships next year. I must be really contemplating contesting the worlds,” she laughed.

    “And Rio (Olympics 2016) are only another few months away from that so maybe I can do that – we will see.”