Swimmer's Daily

  • See The Local via Arbroath

    Spanish daily ABC reported that the Ciudad Real woman had been having sexual relations with a man when the cover on a waterwheel well shaft became dislodged.

    She plunged 10 metres into the hole near ‘Playa Park’ – a waterpark popular with local youths as a venue for romantic liaisons and ‘botellón’ outdoor drinking parties – before hitting the water.

    It is believed that the couple had inadvertently loosened the boards covering the well while making love and had been too distracted to notice the impending peril.

    The young man did not, unfortunately, respond in a manner likely to inspire writers of romantic songs and novels.

    Instead of trying to rescue his unfortunate partner, he hitched up his trousers and fled the scene.

    (more…)

  • See ABC Action News, via Arbroath

    “I saw big nostrils going underwater and staying underwater with water blowing out,” Ammons said. An animal lover herself, she didn’t hesitate to jump into the retention pond to rescue the bull.

    “I stripped everything off that the sheriff’s office really cares about,” she joked. “And then I got in.”

    For the next three hours, Ammons and her partners kept holding the bull’s head above the water’s surface as Hillsborough County Fire Rescue brought a truck with a winch and slowly attached the bull to several straps.

    Slowly but surely, the winch tugged the bull to safety.

    “I’m amazed that the deputy was able to hold his head up out of that water,” said Charles Cochran, the bull’s owner. “You’re looking at several hundred pounds.”

  • jacco-verhaerenRead globalpost

    New coach Jacco Verhaeren says a world 100-metre freestyle record is possible for James Magnussen in this week’s Australian Commonwealth Games swimming trials in Brisbane.

    Brazilian Cesar Cielo holds the world record at 46.91 seconds from the 2009 Rome world championships, but Dutchman Verhaeren says Magnussen is at a “fantastic level” ahead of Tuesday’s six-day selection trials.

    Magnussen, the world 100m champion, has clocked four sub-48 second times ahead of the trials and is FINA’s top-ranked sprinter in the event with a year’s best time of 47.59 set in Perth in late January. His personal best is 47.10.

    “It’s hard to talk about times but he’s at a fantastic level,” Verhaeren said ahead of the trials.

  • Read The Roar

    I don’t think I’m showing my age too much, but surely you remember when swimming was Australia’s ‘it’ sport.

    I’m not just talking about our fascination every four years when the pool becomes our Olympic river of gold – or silver or bronze – but a time when everyone seemed to talk about speedos, splits and strokes, and the chase of the elusive red (or sometimes yellow) world record line.

    Who remembers watching Daryl and Ossie on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, only to be interrupted by a live cross to the Aquatic Centre to watch the 1,500m final at the national titles? Honest, it did happen.

    We would be glued to the box to watch each of the 30 laps Kieren Perkins would swim, each butterfly stroke of Susie O’Neill and breaststroke of Sam Riley.

    It was just what we did.

    australia swimming photoPhoto by blackplastic

  • See digg

    A teenage Michael Phelps talks about his goal of winning Olympic gold medals like you talk about just finishing a 5K.

  • Dane Jackson drops the 60ft La Tomata waterfall in central Veracruz, Mexico.

  • See The Reporter

    When Debbie Koenig was 4, she watched her younger sister crawl and fall in a pool. She could swim, so she jumped in and pulled her out.

    Her sister choked and threw up on her, and Debbie says she knew, even then, that teaching swimming and water safety would be a lifelong mission.

    Today, the Napa native and Green Valley resident owns and operates Debbie’s Swim School, specializing in students, young children to senior adults, who harbor a fear of water.

    She and her staff also offer private lessons and teach advanced stroke mechanics and aqua aerobics, but her mission is to prevent drownings and help people achieve their swimming goals.

  • See piritaopen.blogspot.com

  • Press release from FINA

    FINA OPEN WATER SWIMMING GRAND PRIX 2014

    A total 36 swimmers (14 women and 22 men) from 16 countries took the plunge in the third leg of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix 2014, organised in Cancun (MEX) on March 29.

    Powerful Angela Maurer from Germany took out the women’s race in 3h25m26s3. It is the first podium for Maurer in the Grand Prix circuit this year, who won by the slimmest of margins ahead of Anna Olasz from Hungary (3h25m27s2). Local swimmer Melissa Villasenor created a sensation, making her Grand Prix podium debut with the bronze in a time of 3h31m22s6. Argentina’s Pilar Geijo finished at the podium’s door in 3h31m48s2.

    The men’s race was won by Dutch Weertman Ferry in 3h04m06s3. Ferry bested veteran Simone Ercoli of Italy, second in 3h04m07s8 and compatriot Marcel Schouten, third in 3h05m14s6. These podium appearances are a nice boost for the three medallists, who have been regular competitors in the FINA Grand Prix circuit for several years.

    (more…)