Via the17thman
“While the world celebrates marathon swimmer Diana Nyad’s historic swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida, a Central Ohio woman said her husband completed the same journey nearly 35 years ago. Faye Poenisch, widow of Walter Poenisch, said her husband completed the same swim at the age of 68. Walter Poenisch began marathon swimming at the age of 49. A baker and rodeo man by trade, Walter bet a restaurant owner in Jamestown, New York, that he could beat him.”
More than a decade ago, record-setting free diver Francisco “Pipin†Ferreras of North Bay Village lost his wife, Audrey Mestre, when she drowned attempting to exceed his world depth mark in a plunge to 561 feet off the Dominican Republic. […]
Ferreras, now 51, retired from competitive diving after his wife’s death. He dissolved his company, the International Association of Free Divers, and did some photography and promotions work.
But now he is announcing a comeback: an attempt in 2014 to break the “no-limits†world record of 702 feet set by Austria’s Herbert Nitsch in 2007 off Greece.
Just a photo from the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. The Nepalese swimming team taking a group photo up on the medal podium. Awesome phone cover, btw.
Read NewstalkZB
The NZOC and Swimming New Zealand have lifted their expectations for Kiwi swimmers heading to next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Qualifying times have been released , and in some events they’re faster than current New Zealand records.
(Lauren Boyle on the BCN2013 medal podium)
Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin showing her support for Olympic wrestling. Coughlin won 12 Olympic medals overall.
See story on the Onion
Just one day after Diana Nyad completed her record-breaking swim from Cuba to Florida, a local box jellyfish expressed its deep disappointment Tuesday morning at narrowly failing to achieve its lifelong dream of killing the 64-year-old swimmer. “From the time I was just a young ephyra, I’ve dreamt of the day I would sting Diana Nyad so many times that she’d die,†said the highly venomous Tripedalia cystophora, who reportedly faced numerous adverse conditions throughout the 103-mile swim including choppy currents, varying water temperatures, and Nyad’s special facial gear and skin cream that protected her from jellyfish stings.
See NBC Olympictalk
Michael Phelps returned to the pool … for a RadioShack/Motorola/Sol Republic commercial.
The most decorated Olympian of all time’s retirement portfolio grew with a video published on YouTube on Monday.
In the above ad, Phelps is sitting on a pool deck and is briefly transformed into a long-haired, jewelry-wearing rapper. Phelps then turns the tables on the pool party and transforms others into medalists. A torch even makes an appearance.
In related news, Michael Phelps’ mystery tweet turned out to be about golf. Move along.
Tomorrow is a new start… Can’t wait!!!
— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) September 2, 2013
ESPN Sport Science’s John Brenkus examines the extreme endurance it took for Diana Nyad to swim 110 miles from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Fl in 53 hours.
Diana Nyad has made history as the first person to swim the 110-mile Florida Strait. This was Nyad’s fifth attempt at the feat, and it took her 53 hours to complete. “I wanted this swim, this endeavor not to just be the athletic record,” Nyad, 64, said, “I wanted it to be a lesson for my life that says, be fully engaged.”
