Read Deutsche Welle (in English)
Germany’s Olympic double gold swimmer Britta Steffen has decided to end her competitive career. Her retirement follows disappointments for Germany at the London Olympics and the world championships in Barcelona.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and adifansnet
“Since 1979, the FINA Swimming World Cup gathers the best swimmers in a series of meets organised between August and November each year. Normally across seven/eight locations, the circuit is structured in clusters (Middle East, Europe and Asia) and distributes a total of prize money reaching US$ 2 million.”
Read CourierMail and see Kids Alive
Former Australian swimming coach Laurie Lawrence is stepping up his campaign to prevent drownings, with research showing two-thirds of pool owners don’t know CPR.
KIDS ALIVE – DO THE FIVE!
http://youtu.be/vqpnLecKjpA
Icelandic born Norwegian swimmer Sindri Þór Jakobsson at the LEN 2012 European Swimming Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He was then struggling with the traumatic experience when Alexander Dale Oen died, and quit swimming for a year. Hopefully back on track now.
“Alan Watts, 3 Sirens, and 3 Humback Whales dance together in a short film that will inspire you. Where you are now is your dream. What will you do?”
The Danish Swimming Federation today announces that the Danish Anti-Doping Agency has handed Frans Johannesen three months suspension for testing positive with Terbutaline at the Danish Open / World Trials back in March 2013, the suspension starting 12 May 2013 and excluding him from all competition and practice under the Danish Sports Federation in that now completed period.
The agency has also decided to also disqualify all results achieved by him from 28 March 2013 until 11 May 2013, but let the Danish Swimming Federation whether Esbjerg Svømmeklub should keep its bronze medal from the Danish Team Championships on 6-7 April 2013, where Frans was part of the team. They looked at procedure in team sports, and decided to let Esbjerg keep its medal.
See the full press release (in Danish) here on svoem.dk
See TVNZ
In a New Zealand first, every Southland primary school child will receive professional swimming lessons through a programme aimed at reducing the region’s drowning toll.
A partnership programme called Swim Safe Southland will give the 7900 Southland years one to eight pupils attending a primary school 10 swimming lessons a year from trained instructors.
Swim Safe Southland is a partnership between Water Safety New Zealand, Sport Southland, Southern Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP), and Swimming New Zealand, and is part of the nationwide Sealord Swim for Life initiative.
Nationally, only one in five 10-year-olds can swim 200 metres – the benchmark for being able to swim and survive – meaning 80% of 10-year-olds cannot swim well enough to save themselves.
“Epic Slip N Slide at Ohio Dreams in Butler, OH! Having a blast with some good old slip n slide fun with good people & good vibes all day long! We call this sucker the “Slip N Fly” for good reason! In some cases, people might call it the Slip N Die for some bad bails but all in all, this thing is epic!”
See Huffington Post
Not only did Meredith Novack become the first woman to swim thealmost 20-mile round trip route between Lanai and Maui on Sunday, but she also shattered the men’s record time by 44 minutes, and did it all with two tiger sharks trailing her.
Novack, a 37-year-old marathon swimmer based on Oahu, swam across the Auau channel from Lanai to Maui, in 11 hours and 1 minute.
Unbeknownst to the swimmer, her crew spotted two tiger shark following her for part of the swim, at least one of which was 15 feet long. The crew did not inform her until after she touched land. According to UPI, Novack was grateful for her ignorance. “I’m glad they didn’t tell me,” she said.
