Swimmer's Daily

  • Firefighters in Mesa, Arizona were in for a big surprise Saturday when they had to rescue a horse from a back yard pool. It’s unclear how the horse got in, but after using a tranquilizer to keep it calm crews used straps to pull the horse out.

  • A tranquil diving trip turned into a nightmare during a sea lion attack. The rare moment was captured on tape as freediver Chris Okamoto enjoyed the silence of the blue ocean on the Californian coast. He had been swimming near the Santa Barbara island on October 10 when an adult sea lion rushed towards him with it mouth open. Quick-thinking Chris brandished the butt of his speargun and the angry mammal retreated.

    http://youtu.be/e2uTdQo1gog

  • Former Olympic swimmer and world record holder Ariana Kukors has been busy training in California since she came out of retirement to take a shot at one more Summer Olympics. She returned to Seattle this week to support a cause that’s very close to her heart.

    See King5

  • At the recent CMAS European Apnea World Championships in Tenerife, Croatian Freediver Goran Colak set a new CMAS Dynamic World Record by swimming 288m with fins in one breath.

    Via DeeperBlue

  • Australia’s Dawn Fraser recalls how she felt taking part in the Olympic games for the first time and describes how it felt winning gold at the Melbourne 1956 games. The four time Olympic gold medalist still considers 1956 as her most enjoyable Olympic games and explains the pride she felt swimming for her country at the Olympics for the first time.

    Courtesy of Olympics on YouTube

  • Today in Bergen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg officially opened the impressive AdO arena svimming facility, named after Alexander Dale Oen.

    Solberg mentioned Alex in her opening speech: ‘A person is missing here today. Norway’s undisputed top swimmer who passed away far too early, barely 27 years old. A great athlete, arguably one of the greatest.’

    Images courtesy of Sander Englund Smørdal / simma.nu/no

  • Jacob’s Well, Wimberley, Texas, see for instance Wikipedia and visitwimberley.com

    Freediving to 54' / 16m in Jacob's Well | MicBergsma

  • Australian marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel has successfully completed a world record 126km swim in the Bahamas.

    McCardel’s support team says the 42 hour effort between two islands is the longest open-water solo, continuous marathon swim in history.

    McCardel’s team say her effort surpasses a similar record set by Australian-British swimmer Penny Palfrey in 2011.

    Read for instance The Sydney Morning Herald

  • With just over a month to go before the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), Qatar is already setting records as an unprecedented 1,300 swimmers have registered their interest in competing at Hamad Aquatic Centre.

    Also, more than 500 team officials have registered to participate in the event.

    As of yesterday, 174 countries will be represented at this year’s event, which will be held from December 3-7, 2014. Whilst athletes are still undergoing the formal approval process in order to confirm their place at swimming’s showpiece event, all signs point towards Qatar being set to attract more swimmers to a FINA World Swimming Championship (25m) than ever before. At the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Istanbul, 2012, 958 swimmers competed.

    Read Gulf Times