Swimmer's Daily

  • 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.

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    (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.

  • tripedalia-cystophoraSee 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.

  • 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.”

  • “Top Ten Thoughts Going Through Diana Nyad’s Mind While Swimming From Cuba To Florida

    http://youtu.be/K21MiUKkuOw

  • Just a photo from the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Danish national coach Nick Juba and Faroese swimmer Pál Joensen trying to figure out how Pál could get from the Faroese hotel to train with the Danes. A nice and simple bus schedule, where we were supposed to always take the same bus line (in our case number 2), to and from training and competition venues. But since the Danes belonged to another bus line, Pál ended up taking taxis.

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  • camilla-pedersenRead Jyllands-Posten (in Danish)

    Triathlete Camilla Pedersen is admitted to the intensive care unit at Odense University Hospital. The Danish European champion has sustained a fractured skull and critical bleeding around the brain as a result of a crash while bike training on Tuesday night.

    “Latest development is that Camilla will be kept in artificial coma until the weekend to give the brain maximum rest and chance to recover. We can not expect decisive news until then,” the Danish Triathlon Federation writes on its website.

    30-year-old Camilla Pedersen was European champion in triathlon in May, and in July she won also the European Championship Ironman in Frankfurt. Here she completed 3.8 km biking, 180 km cycling and 42.2 km run in 8 hours and 56 minutes.

    This qualified her for the prestigious Hawaii Ironman on October 12th.

    UPDATE! Jyllands-Posten has more here:

    “She was out training with a number of other athletes around Esbjerg when some kids came out on the road. They all reacted as it happens almost daily when you have to dodge a pedestrian or a cyclist. It was an accident, and there were no cars involved, but she has hurt herself seriously,” says national coach Michael Krüger.

    Is it life threatening?

    There hasn’t been talk about it being life threatening. But it probably is, when you are in danger of losing your mobility,” says Michael Krüger .