Swimmer's Daily

  • The 38-year-old Konrad’s escape was a testament to willpower and world-class athleticism.

    “It’s an incredible story,” the endurance swimmer Diana Nyad said. “Taking his life in his hands and deciding he was going to save himself.”

    Konrad, who played for the Miami Dolphins from 1999 to 2004, had been around boats since his childhood on Boston’s North Shore. So he knew what it meant when he fell off his 31-foot Grady-White while fishing alone nine miles from land.

    “A boater’s nightmare,” he said.

    He swam to Palm Beach, covering a distance of 27 miles before ringing the doorbell of an oceanfront home for help at 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

    The details of his survival were hard to believe, he and his wife, Tammy Konrad, agreed.

    “It was a miracle he made it home,” she said.

    Read The New York Times

    http://youtu.be/tzTNlg0Xzmo

    http://youtu.be/oemWHW6eQ40

    Rob Konrad talks about miraculous swim

  • Mike is a Los Angeles County Lifeguard Captain who has protected the beaches since 1980. LA lifeguards watch over 72 miles of coastline, from San Pedro to Malibu. When you’re a lifeguard, courage becomes instinct, and bravery is just part of the job description.

    http://youtu.be/CjcKE-UqsvE

  • In open water swimming, you have to develop the strength to go the distance. The Deep Enders members Jim McConica and Tamie Stewart work to find their forever pace. The Deep Enders embrace the freedom of the ocean as well as the power of friendship.

    http://youtu.be/btd8GmBKIV8

  • Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm shows us how she has #SuperSeriousFun when she’s away from the pool ahead of the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series.

  • Four-time Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Simmonds wants you to come join her at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow in six months time.

  • Oscar Kightley is two laps into his swim to survive.

    The actor and comedian has spent the past 20 years being scared of the water.

    The 44-year-old said his fear of the water followed two near-drowning incidents.

    “That kind of kept me out, but I always knew I was missing out on something,” he said.

    “Our Earth is covered two-thirds by water, so if you don’t know how to handle yourself in that two-thirds you’re kind of limiting your life.”

    He’s been confronting his fear of the water and learning to swim since 2012 and has become strong enough to finish two lengths of a pool.

    This summer, he’s aiming to spend more time in the water.

    “My dream was to just get off the bottom of the pool and to be in water over my head and not freak out,” he said.

    Read stuff.co.nz

  • With SeaWorld seeing attendance dips, its CEO step down, and people protesting the Miami Seaqiarium’s captivity of Lolita, more and more people are getting involved in trying to save aquatic animals from being used as playthings for tourists.

    Now a new petition, this one targeting “swimming with dolphins” programs, has hit the internet pleading for Congress to step in and end the programs.

    Swimming with dolphins is a popular tourist attraction throughout the state, including in South Florida, where you can swim with a porpoise for $100 a session.

    Sponsored by his Dolphin Project, says swimming with dolphins programs pose a health risk not only to the animals but to people as well.

    “There are hundreds of documented cases of injuries from participants, including reports that humans have been rammed or bitten by dolphins during their interactions,” the petition reads. “It is next to impossible to determine the behavior of a cetacean on a daily basis, especially considering captive dolphins are stressed and frustrated. Expecting the dolphins, children, and adults to follow the rules is extremely far-fetched.”

    Read Broward / Palm Beach New Times

    Photo by Upsilon Andromedae

  • We knew she was a world champion swimmer, but we discovered last Saturday that Alia Atkinson is also a powerful speaker. As she addressed the annual business conference of the GraceKennedy Group, she recounted how she extinguished the notion that swimming “was not for the likes of her”.

    With little support at the beginning of her career, Alia made a lonely path up to the finals of the 2012 Olympics and wondered to herself if this was where she would stop, but said she decided to fight on because she did not want to go through life wondering “what if?”

    Alia’s response to those who murmured that ‘swimming was not really a black woman’s sport’ was to work even harder, because, she says, “I am very stubborn… I had to believe in myself…I knew what my goals were; and to reach them, I had to try that much harder”.

    She said the ones who had a negative attitude towards her were the very ones who motivated her to persevere. “I am a myth-buster,” she declared. “I am on top, and I am a black Jamaican swimmer!”

    Read Jamaica Observer

  • Four members of Team USA Swimming spent the day training young athletes in the water.

    NewsChannel 3’s Blaine Stewart takes us there.

    When larger than life celebrities, like 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, visit Naval Station Norfolk, it’s bound to make a splash.

    For Lochte and his teammates, Friday’s swim clinics at the fleet rec pool are more than just a way to inspire young athletes. This is about giving back.

    This is the second time Lochte and gold medalist Tyler Clary have partnered with the USO for days like this — which hit home for Anthony Ervin, who won the gold in 2000. His father was a marine in the Vietnam War.

    This is the first USO tour for Ervin, and Tim Phillips, who’s quickly learned giving his time to the next generation of Olympic hopefuls may be almost as rewarding as earning another medal.

    See wtkr.com