Swimmer's Daily

  • Read The West Australian

    Back in Perth for this week’s State swimming titles and next weekend’s BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series, D’Orsogna still has his eyes firmly fixed on this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

    “The move to Queensland has been refreshing – it was the change I needed,” D’Orsogna said this week.

    “I can concentrate on my swimming in a really positive environment.

    “My new coach Simon Cusack has had some great recent results with Cate and Bronte Campbell and Christian Sprenger.

    “I’m just hoping to do something similar.”

    Post by Australian Swim Team.

  • “Thousands took part in Europe’s largest organised winter swim as part of annual Karneval celebrations in Bavaria on Saturday.”

  • Read for instance BND

    A crocodile is suspected to have taken a 12-year-old boy after attacking his friend as they swam in a water hole on Sunday in a popular Outback tourist destination in northern Australia.

    Police believed the missing boy was taken by a crocodile as he and a number of other boys swam at Mudginberri Billabong in World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, southeast of the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, Acting Police Commander Michael White said.

    “One other boy, also aged 12, was bitten on the arm by the crocodile and has received medical treatment,” White said.

    http://youtu.be/vVp7zWowzGU

  • Read couriermail.com.au

    Swimming Australia president John Bertrand said the sport needed to better capitalise on the experience and knowledge within its own ranks.

    Bertrand said Hackett and O’Neill were keen to get involved and he hoped to take five-time Olympic champion Thorpe up on his public offer last year to mentor the Australian team and help junior development in the sport.

    Hackett will join the Australian team for the Aquatic Super Series in Perth later this week.

    “We had Grant Hackett, Susie O’Neill very excited to be involved,” Bertrand said.

  • Read CRI English

    On Saturday, six divers came out safely from a living chamber that had took them more than 300 meters underwater, marking the complete success of China’s first 300-meter saturation dive experiment. […]

    Saturation diving technology enables human beings to withstand high water pressure by saturating human tissue with inert gas, which will allow divers to stay under water for a longer time and at a deeper sea level than with conventional techniques.

    It is commonly used in deep sea exploration, in rescue operations at sea and in engineering construction at the bottom of the sea. China had previously only conducted such experiments in laboratories.

  • Tonight at the Skagerrak Swim meet in Kristiansand, Norway, Denmark’s Mie Østergaard Nielsen broke her own 50 meter Danish and Nordic backstroke record (long course), with a scorching time of 28.43. The old record was her own 28.51, from when she won gold a the Antwerpen 2012 European Junior Championships.

    Post by Mie Østergaard Nielsen.

  • alicia-couttsRead Canberra Times

    Alicia Coutts says the Australian swimming team’s much-maligned culture was “so much better” at last year’s world championships in Barcelona and she’s confident it will stand up to its next major test – the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

    The 26-year-old was one of the few shining lights from the Australian swim team’s disastrous London Olympics campaign 18 months ago, when she won one gold, three silver and a bronze medal. It culminated in her being named Australian swimmer of the year in 2012.

    An inquiry was launched into the swim team’s performance in the fall-out from the Olympics, with the men’s 100 metres freestyle relay team getting fined for their Stilnox escapades in a pre-Games training camp that involved playing pranks on some female members of the team.

    It led to the team’s culture being labelled ”toxic” in a report and former national coach Leigh Nugent lost his job as a result.

    But Coutts felt those dark days were behind Australia’s swimmers and pointed to the worlds in Spain last year as proof.

    She managed five silver medals, while the team brought back three gold and 10 silver. Coutts is hoping they can continue to build on the renewed team spirit in Glasgow and possible Olympic redemption at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

    “In Barcelona everyone got along so much better than they had in previous years and everyone’s really working on bonding as a team and supporting the others in the squad and not being so independent and concentrating just on yourself,” she said. ”I think the atmosphere has come a long way.”

    Read more here on Canberra Times

  • Read Emirates 24/7

    The Buildings Department of Dubai Municipality has issued new circular for all consulting and contracting companies in the emirate of Dubai making the protection rails for balconies and swimming pools mandatory in new buildings. […]

    “Safety of the people is the first priority of the civic body. We don’t want to hear any more tragic stories in our city,” Marwan said.

    “Hence, all consulting and contracting companies should ensure the availability of handrails for balconies and swimming pools in all new buildings with immediate effect, in line with the specifications stipulated by the civic body,” he said.

    “Minimum height of the handrail should be 90 cm and should be installed in a way that kids cannot use it mistakenly. It should not allow kids to climb on or creep though it,” he explained.

    “It is recommended to put a protecting fence of minimum 90 cm height around the swimming pool with a lockable door and a warning system as kids touch the door or rail when they are not allowed to use it. It is also good to have an alarm whenever the pool is not attended by the rescue staff,” he added.

    Image courtesy of Jan, CC BY-SA 2.0

  • See kshb.com

    More than 1,100 swimmers took to the freezing waters of Longview Lake on Friday all for a good cause.

    It’s part of the “Polar Plunge,” a 21-hour fundraising event for the Special Olympics.

    “It’s one of those things, as soon as you hit the water, its pins and needles,” described swimmer Mike Day. “But there are 12 of us, and we know this is going to Special Olympics.”