Swimmer's Daily

  • Aargh, it is ‘premium content’ on The Australian, but still …

    New national head coach Jacco Verhaeren believes being the No 1 team in the world is the “only ambition Australia can have”. The decorated Dutch coach arrived in Australia this week as part of the push to revive the Australian team’s fortunes after the London Olympics slump and hit the ground running, attending the Victorian championships in Melbourne yesterday to meet and greet swimmers and coaches.

  • josh-islamRead Marine Corps Times

    A junior Marine died this week in a swimming pool at Camp Pendleton, Calif., while completing a water skills test, Marine Corps officials said this week.

    Pfc. Joshua Islam, 18, of Union County N.C., was participating in an intial screening at School of Infantry-West as a precursor to the Marines’ physically demanding reconnaissance training, said Col. Sean Gibson, a spokesman for Training and Education Command. He had graduated from boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., only three months earlier, in October 2013.

    He died Monday in a pool at Camp Las Pulgas, near Pendleton’s center, while undergoing a test that required him to tread water for 30 minutes.


    See also wcnc.com

  • See fox4kc.com

    Our FOX 4 HyVee Team of the Week is on the Missouri side this time around. The swimmers at Park Hill South might hold the metro’s best shot of winning a state championship in girl’s swimming. Watch Jason Lamb’s full report.

  • A very GoPro-like action cam, see nilox.com

  • homayun-and-efimovaSee DAASM

    Yuliya Efimova’s Medical Advisor and Conditioning Coach about Substance Abuse

    Dr. Dr. Homayun Gharavi, medical advisor and conditioning coach in professional Sports, on the breaking news about Yuliya Efimova’s positive doping test

    DAASM:
    You have been working with Ms. Efimova’s as her personal physician and conditioning coach for a few years now. What was your reaction to the recent press releases?

    Home Gharavi (HG):
    Of course it is shocking. Yet, my first question was ‘how did it happen?’. I have known Yuliya since 2009. She has been to Germany on and off for treatment. In 2013, we started a structured cooperation, where I have been responsible for her land-based training, but also for manual treatment. Working so closely, especially during intensive moments at the London Games, the WC in Barcelona, and the Europeans in Denmark, you get to know the person quite well. Of all the professional athletes I have been working with, Yuliya is one of the most articulate and correct persons. So, the first thoughts in my mind were some wild conspiracy theories.

    DAASM:
    So you doubt the results?

    HG:
    No. The Anti-Doping routines are absolutely reliable and secure … professionally as well as legally. So, I personally have no doubts about that. The results must be accepted as correct. Yuliya called me in a moment of confusion and fear and we had to go back and look for the reason on her side. This morning she told me before boarding the plane to los angeles, that despite of the disastrous news, she still appreciates that the anti-doping system truly makes a big contribution to keep the sport clean.

    Read more on DAASM

  • According to sovsport.ru (and originally Vedomosti), Russian breaststroker Yuliya Efimova tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone in an unannounced test in October, while preparing for a FINA meet. Dehydroepiandrosterone is a natural steroid found in dietary supplements, that apparently is used to normalize body weight and balance hormones. According to sovsport.ru, the B-sample has not yet been examined.See also rsport.ru and rianovosti

    At the Herning 2013 European Short Course Championships in December, Efimova won gold in the 50 and 200 meter breaststroke, plus silver in the 100. In the 200 breaststroke, she set a new World record of 2:14.39, breaking Rebecca Soni’s 2:14.57 from the Duel in the Pool in Manchester in 2009.

  • Behold the “Gidropark” free-access outdoor gym in Kiev, Ukraine, nicknamed “Cook’s Island” after founder and for almost half a century maintainer Yuri Cook. All equipment built out of scrap metal and stuff and chained to avoid theft. Awesome!

    http://youtu.be/GW3XZmigQBw


    Gym Gidropark Kiev in kiev

    Featured image found here on Panoramio

  • chad-la-touretteRead The Stanford Daily

    Chad La Tourette is five laps away from making the Olympics.

    It’s the 1,500-meter freestyle finals on the last day of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb., where the nation’s top 2,000 swimmers have gathered to compete for just a handful of spots on the U.S. Olympic team. […]

    But he won’t. La Tourette has led the field for the first 12 minutes of the race, but in the next three, his dream turns into a nightmare — the very same one he lived in 2008.

    La Tourette climbs out of the pool, a third-place finisher once again. The first person he finds is Bill Rose, his coach.

    “It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my 45 years of coaching,” Rose will later remember. La Tourette will have trouble forgetting, too.

    For now, all he does is stare at his coach.

  • See Skokie Review

    It’s the same sun over California as it is over Skokie. And a tanned Lenny Krayzelburg, four-time Olympic U.S. gold medalist from Los Angeles, was in his element Jan. 12 bringing summer gold to the wintry North Shore. […]

    “I’m very excited about opening our Learn to Swim Academy here in Chicago, specifically at Kaplan JCC,” said Krayzelburg, who spoke to Sun-Times Media poolside as future students took free swim evaluations required before group or private lessons.

    Video autoplays, therefore pushed below the break

    (more…)