Swimmer's Daily

  • Duncan GoodhewRead Sunderland Echo

    Former Olympic swimmer Duncan Goodhew gave youngsters a coaching session to mark the refurbishment of their pool.

    The pool, at Chester-le-Street Leisure Centre, is now more energy efficient after British Gas upgraded the building’s heating and lighting.

    Duncan, 56, whose son is studying at Northumbria University, said: “Modernised heating and ventilation means the pool here in Chester-le-Street is a nicer place for users and the council has a smaller energy bill, so everyone’s a winner.

    “I hope people in the area 
will take advantage of what’s 
been done by making use of the pool.”

    Duncan, who won Olympic gold in 1980, added: “I run a number of coaching projects aimed at 
getting youngsters into swimming.

    “There are also a number of companies, such as British Gas, who ask me to help with their swimming-related projects.

    “In some ways I’m more involved in swimming now than when I won the gold medal.

    Image courtesy of Steve Bowbrick, CC BY 2.0

  • A scene from the LEN 2009 European Short Course Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. Not 100% sure who this is, but maybe Amaury Leveaux.

    Resetting his head at Istanbul 2009

  • australian-relayRead Manchester Evening News

    A furious row has broken out over £300,000 of taxpayers’ money being spent on bringing elite Australian swimmers to Manchester – as public baths in the city face being shut in budget cuts.

    The cash is being paid to Swimming Australia Ltd to cover the cost of hosting the Aussie team in Manchester for major sports events in Britain.

    As part of the deal, swimmers chose Manchester as their base ahead of last summer’s London Olympics and will return for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. […]

    Levenshulme councillor James Hennigan said: “I would much rather the money was spent on nurturing our home-grown talent rather than it being passed to the Australians. It’s disgusting that they are making this cheque out.”

    Campaigner Kirsten Hobby, from Save Levenshulme Baths, said the money should have been spent on local facilities rather than a ‘showboating’ project. […]

    The payments were also queried by former Australian swimming team coach Bill Sweetenham, who said the Aussies had done ‘extremely well’ out of the deal.

    Speaking from New Zealand, Mr Sweetenham said: “It’s common practice for countries to offer the use of facilities in kind, like free or cheap pool space, but it doesn’t usually involve money changing hands.”

  • cecil-russellRead The Star

    Cecil Russell was banned for life — twice — from coaching swimmers because of his involvement in illegal steroid and ecstasy rings. During a 1997 murder trial he admitted to helping burn the body of a dead drug associate.

    But none of it stopped him from coaching his own talented children — two competed at the 2012 London Olympics — or other swimmers. And now, involvement with him has spelled the end of the Dolphins Swim Club of Oakville.

    Swim Ontario announced Friday that it had terminated the club’s membership for allowing Russell to continue being involved despite repeated warnings and sanctions. Dolphins members will have to join new clubs to compete at sanctioned events.

  • barclay-nettlefoldRead for instance ABC News, Herald Sun, News.com.au, The Australian, SwimmingWorld, SwimVortex, Yahoo7, 9News

    Swimming Australia’s controversial year out of the pool has got worse with president Barclay Nettlefold stood down on Saturday over allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a female team consultant.

    The Swimming Australia board began to look into the comment on Friday but took further action today when another staff member came forward with a similar complaint.

    Nicole Livingstone, a spokeswoman for Swimming Australia, said in a statement outside the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre:

    “The Swimming Australia board has today made the decision to stand down President Barclay Nettlefold pending an independent investigation into allegations of inappropriate comments made to staff.

    “The Swimming Australia board was today provided with new information about a separate allegation of inappropriate comments in addition to the one that is already being handled through our member welfare policy.

    “The board takes these allegations of inappropriate comments seriously and as such has made the decision that the president steps down to enable a full and independent review to be undertaken.”

  • SwimBritainBritish comedian David Walliams is encouraging Britain to get back in the water this summer as he takes on his first team swimming challenge. Also featuring Rebecca Adlington and Keri-Anne Payne. Find out more and sign up at swimbritain.co.uk

  • The Faroese are very sensitive to any rise in temperature. Temperature up to 14°C (57°F), these past few days, and people start wearing t-shirts and shorts outdoors. Here a young kid taking a swim in our local lake “Toftavatn”, yesterday evening, temperature there I guess maybe 7°C (44°F). Jákup was interested but not totally up for it (yet).

    Young kid taking a dip in our local lake

  • phelps-poker-2Fox News, CardPlayer, NESN, WPT Mag

    Olympic legend Michael Phelps has a new gold standard in mind — the World Series of Poker.

    The 18-time gold medalist participated in his first World Series of Poker event on Wednesday, clanking chips alongside other high-stakes gamblers at the annual event in Las Vegas. In all, more than $200 million in prize money will be awarded in 62 separate events, Fox5Vegas.com reports.

    “I always wanted to come out and play,” Phelps said. “This has been the first year I’ve been able to since I retired. I just came out and I wasn’t going to play to

  • First Year Animation Short, Falmouth University, produced By Jack Madeley, Harry Bayfield and Jordan Allnutt.