Swimmer's Daily

  • Read the interview (in English) here on herning2013.com

    Lotte Friis’ (DEN) worst nightmare became reality at the Olympics in 2012 – what she expected to be her greatest success ever became her biggest disappointment. The year after the Olympics was rough but this year Lotte swam a fantastic 800m and 1500m free at the World Championships in Barcelona – showing herself, and everybody else, that she is still a swimmer to count on!

    It is not a secret that you had a hard time finding the motivation to continue your swimming career since, what you called your worst nightmare became reality at the Olympics in 2012. But what have you actually done in order to move on?

    – I moved to Nice. Living in another country, new surroundings, a new culture, a new coach, new friends and other people to train with – all this made me happier, got me new motivation, made me want to swim again in order to show the world that I was still a swimmer to count on.

    Lotte Friis World Champion - Arena Swimwear

    Since you moved to Nice in 2012 your results have been improving and latest you swam an outstanding swim in the 800 free and a thrilling 1500 free against American Katie Ledecky at the World Championships in Barcelona. In August you headed to NORTH Baltimore, USA to train under the well-known Bob Bowman. Why did you decide to move from Nice and why was NORTH Baltimore the right choice for you?

    – I was told that in Nice the training this autumn would not be as intensive as I wanted, due to the fact that Europeans in Herning is not a priority to the Nice-swimmers and a lot of new swimmers was to be included at the Elite team in the Club. Since I wanted to be 100% ready for Herning, Nick and I decided that I had to swim somewhere else for the rest of 2013. At World Cup in august, I talked to some of the swimmers from Baltimore. I met Bob Bowman and I had a long talk with him and then it was decided that I should go to Baltimore to train in NBAC.

    Image courtesy of Peter Harry, CC BY-SA 2.0

  • See swimming.org

    British Swimming has announced the Podium and Podium Potential squads of athletes who will receive direct support from UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme for 2014.

    Sixty-two athletes across Podium (22) and Podium Potential (40) will receive targeted financial assistance through receipt of an Athlete Personal Award (APA) in addition to training camp and competition opportunities, science and medicine services, as well as the support of the British Swimming World Class Programme staff.[…]

    A team GB supporter at Roma 2009

    Athletes selected for the Podium Programme

    • Sophie Allen (British Gas ITC Bath) (England)
    • Craig Benson (Warrender) (Scotland)
    • Adam Brown (Auburn (U.S.)) (England)
    • Jazmin Carlin (British Gas ITC Swansea) (Wales)
    • Daniel Fogg (British Gas ITC Loughborough) (England)
    • James Guy (Millfield) (England)
    • Francesca Halsall (British Gas Nat Sprint Prog, Loughborough) (England)
    • Michael Jamieson (British Gas ITC Bath) (Scotland)
    • Jemma Lowe (British Gas ITC Bath) (Wales)
    • Craig McNally (Warrender) (Scotland)
    • Hannah Miley (Garioch) (Scotland)
    • Ross Murdoch (British Gas ITC Stirling) (Scotland)
    • Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (British Gas ITC Bath) (England)
    • Roberto Pavoni (British Gas ITC Loughborough) (England)
    • Adam Peaty (City of Derby) (England)
    • Ben Proud (Plymouth Leander) (England)
    • Lauren Quigley (Stockport Metro) (England)
    • Robbie Renwick (City of Glasgow) (Scotland)
    • Liam Tancock (British Gas Nat Sprint Prog, Loughborough) (England)
    • Christopher Walker-Hebborn (British Gas ITC Bath) (England)
    • Andrew Willis (British Gas ITC Bath) (England)
    • Aimee Willmott (Middlesbrough) (England)

  • Read South China Morning Post

    After serving his week-long punishment for driving without a licence, Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang managed to dodge a media scrum of almost 50 reporters when he was released from detention on Monday morning, Chinese media reported.

    Sun snuck out a side door of the Hangzhou detention centre at around 8am and was whisked away in a van with tinted windows.

    Chinese media have reported a variety of rumours about Sun’s stay in the centre, speculating that he received special treatment and even publishing a floorplan of his jail cell.

    Sun Yang enters the Palau Sant Jordi BCN2013 arena

    The Wuhan Morning News wrote that chefs in the centre accommodated Sun’s decision to eat a vegetarian diet during his stay, because officials were concerned the meat served to inmates might contain chemical additives or residue that could interfere with Sun’s health or later doping tests. Unfortunately for other inmates, Sun’s diet preference was imposed on all of them, according to a man who told the newspaper he served time in the detention centre at the same time as the Olympic swimmer.

    (more…)

  • Just a photo from the FINA 2013 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

    Warm-up scene at BCN2013

  • Via SwimmingWorld

    Swimmers are never known to be graceful creatures on land, but Sullivan did his best to put down that stereotype in this rhythmic gymnastics routine featuring a hoop. Sullivan’s one-minute performance might not get him an Olympic medal, but it does impress with some daring flips. And we can’t neglect to mention the stylish eye makeup in the Australian green and gold colors. Unfortunately, rhythmic gymnastics is a female-only sport, but Sullivan definitely makes a case for men to join in as well!

    This as part of the Australian game show A League of Their Own. And he definitely is!

  • FINAThe next round of FINA Swimming World Cup 2013 meets start on November 13 in Beijing, China, with live streaming on FinaTV. The competition times for the Beijing leg are as follows:

    Wednesday, 13 November:
    Start Time: 11:15 to 13:45 GMT Main TX Day 1 session 1 (PGM start 11:30 GMT)

    Thursday, 14 November
    Start Time: 11:15 to 13:45 GMT Main TX Day 2 (PGM start 11:30 GMT)

  • A friendly advice in the LiveLeak comments: “Remember, kids, when a shark attacks, you don’t have to out swim the shark, just the friends you went swimming with…”

  • Read Daily Record and see BBC

    Sean Conway, a 32-year-old adventurer from Cheltenham, has completed a four-month-long fundraising trip swimming from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

    No-one has ever completed the swim before.

    Here is the BBC video on YouTube

    http://youtu.be/mUzM3UC19nw

    And here is another video

    http://youtu.be/MwHSr2VmCBQ

  • China’s Ying Lu en route to a gold medal in the women’s 50 meter short course butterfly at the FINA 2012 World Swimming Championships (25m) in Istanbul, Turkey.

    Ying Lu enters the Istanbul 2012 arena