Swimmer's Daily

  • See Daily Picks And Flicks

    A dramatic crash video from the 2013 edition of Karkonosze Rally in Poland. Everyone was OK.

  • bronx-polar-bears-2Read NY Daily News

    An 80% chance of snow and freezing 13-mile-per-hour winds won’t deter Bronx Polar Bears Saturday from plunging into Long Island Sound’s chilly depths for a Valentine’s swim.

    Dozens of swimmers are expected to eschew gloomy forecasts in order to don bathing suits for a dive just off Orchard Beach for the Polar Bear Club’s annual fitness plunge.

    “We are very committed,” said Liga Freimane, among nearly 30 people expected to dive. “If it snows, all the better.”

    http://youtu.be/y5Trgt6c-DY

  • Read equities - Mark Spitz and Ryan Lochte featured, yay!

    Image courtesy of Doha Stadium Plus Qatar, CC BY 2.0
    Image courtesy of Doha Stadium Plus Qatar, CC BY 2.0

    Mark Spitz

    America’s best swimmer not named Michael Phelps, Spitz dominated the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, setting multiple world records on his way to winning eleven Olympic medals, nine of them gold. Spitz abruptly retired from the sport at age 22 to get into show business.

    He found modest success, notably as a commentator, endorsement machine, and pin-up. Unique among Olympian swimmers with his Selleck-esque mustache, a poster of the swimmer wearing his nine golds became one of the best-selling posters in the 1970s.

    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    Ryan Lochte

    Another good-looking swimmer, Lochte was tailor-made for endorsements. Specifically, he was really, really, ridiculously good-looking. While a successful Olympian like Carl Lewis had immense trouble finding sponsors on account of his flamboyancy, his brash attitude, or his skin color (opinions vary) Lochte was as harmless and pretty as a pony.

    Lochte reportedly made over $2.3 million in endorsements in 2012 alone.

  • Ian ThorpeRead BizNews

    The very nature of a world champion’s job increases the risk of imbalance, or an unbalanced perspective on life that leads to a state of “dis-ease”. Depression is just one symptom.

    Thorpe made one glaring mistake common to great sporting champions:  he surrounded himself with coaches, but few or no mentors. Mentors are those who have gone before, who have their charge’s best interests at heart. They can guide champions and ensure that their “game plans” are “made of the right stuff ”, as they move from good to great to greater.

    Most important of all, mentors are often best placed to restore balance and paint the bigger picture of life – that life is indeed bigger than sport.

  • See WTSP

    For more than 60-years tourists have been flocking to Weeki Wachee to see the park’s world famous mermaids.

    Yet, Weeki Wachee would never be if not for its first magnitude spring. At times, more than 200-cubic-feet of fresh water per second rushes up from deep underground.

    The mermaids call it their fountain of youth.

    “I would love to go cave diving and just see what’s down there,” said park mermaid Marissa Perez.

  • See CNN

    For most people plunging into the ocean’s cold, dark depths without an oxygen tank would be an alarming experience. But for Ahmad Tahilmet and his friends its one of life’s greatest pleasures.

    They are freedivers — one of the growing number of young Emiratis who pursue the extreme water sport that is growing in popularity.

  • See the notice from Toba Aquarium

    World famous giant isopod “NO.1” died today, five years and 43 days after having his last meal, a horse mackerel that he devoured on 2 January 2009. That is 18 days before President Obama began his first term. “No.1” has now been dissected and his stomach content checked, but still the cause of death is unknown.

    Some key data off the Toba Aquarium site:

    NO.1 (male)

    • (September 9, 2007) length 29cm weight 1040g: Admission time
    • (February 14, 2014) length 29cm weight 1060g: death
    • Survival time: 6 years 158 days (2350 days)
    • Fasting Days: 5 years 43 days (1869 days)

    Thanks to Akihiro Yasui for submitting this story, whose brother can supply even more long-lasting isopods

    Image courtesy of opencage.info, CC BY-SA 2.5

  • See BBC

    Two divers have had an unexpected encounter in California after an octopus tried to wrestle their camera from them.

    David Malvestuto and his diving partner Warren Murray were recording footage of marine life in Bluefish Cove off the town of Carmel.

    Mr Murray described what happened when they came face-to-face with the camera-shy creature.

    http://youtu.be/WgjXztqsR2M

  • SwimBritain 2013 highlights film showing a host of famous faces who took part last year.

    See swimbritain.co.uk