Swimming Australia chief executive Kevin Neil has quit his post in the wake of the team’s poor showing at the London Olympics, which was tarred by reports of pranks and ill-discipline. Neil has denied he was a casualty of the swim team’s below-par Olympic campaign but he admitted the pressure of the role has had an impact on his health. Read for instance AFP and The Age
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British Swimming’s chief Michael Scott quits after London 2012 flop
Michael Scott has resigned as British Swimming national performance director following a review into Team GB’s performance at the London 2012 Olympics. Great Britain fell two medals short of their target of five podium places, initially Australia-based Scott had stated he would not resign from his post, but, after the five-man review panel recommended he should reside in Great Britain, he has opted to stand aside, leaving on November 30. Read for instance ESPN Star
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Students learn to swim for safety
Grade three students across Ontario can add water safety to the list of what they learned in school. It’s part of the provincial swim to survive program, started by the life saving society of Ontario.
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CC photo #329: Gregorio Paltrinieri on the Debrecen 2012 podium
Young gun Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy on the Debrecen 2012 European Swimming Championships podium, showing his medals to the photographers after winning the men’s 1500 freestyle in a new championships record of 14:48.92. See result list here. So I guess he’s the complete European champion now, having won the 1500 meter freestyle both long course and short course, and ranked highest of the Europeans in the 1500 at the Olympics (#5).
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Danes looking for a new national coach
The Danish Swimming Federation released this job advertisement today, searching for a national coach to ‘ensure the continued development of Danish elite swimming to the highest possible international level’. The specific goal to achieve medals at the Olympics, World Championships and European Championships, and the primary focus on international long course championships. The former job of Wildeboer is as I understand it split into two, one the job as on deck head coach of the National Training Center in Copenhagen, that he has now until late January 2013, and the other to be the more formal ‘national head coach’, selecting national squads, planning the competition season and being the general key figure in the cooperation between swimmers, coaches and others in and around the national team, reporting to the Sports Manager. See svoem.org (in Danish), a full job description can be found also here in English.
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Camille Muffat 3:54.85 and a new World Record in the 400 meter SC freestyle
At the Chartres 2012 European Short Course Championships today, Camille Muffat (FRA) won the women’s 400 meter freestyle in 4:54.85, demolishing Laure Manaudou’s (FRA) championships record of 3:56.09 from Helsinki 2006, and Joanne Jackson’s (GBR) European and World record of 3:54.92 from the supersuited days of Leeds 2009. Splits 26.84 – 29.40 – 29.67 – 30.04 – 29.99 – 30.07 – 29.71 – 29.13. See result list here
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France still leads the Chartres 2012 medal race, but the Danes closing in
Denmark had a great day at the Chartres 2012 European Short Course Swimming Championships, with Lotte Friis taking the 800 freestyle crown, Jeanette Ottesen the 50 butterfly and Rikke Møller Pedersen the 200 breaststroke, see for instance the report on SwimNews. The Russians are also in the race now, but France and Hungary though still ahead after two days.
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CC photo #328: Vorontsov with the Szczecin 2011 trophy
Not even a year ago, Russia’s then national head coach Andrei Vorontsov with the Szczecin 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships trophy, in the team hotel lobby in Szczecin, Poland. Now national coach of Sweden :-)
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Sweden names Sandmark, Jenner and Vorontsov as national coaches
The Swedish Swimming Federation presented their new and impressive national team coaching trio in Helsingborg today, Ulrika Sandmark will be the coach in charge, team manager or ‘federation captain’ as they say in Sweden, with Sarah Sjöströms British coach Carl Jenner and former Russian national head coach Andrei Vorontsov as coaches also. See for instance simma.nu/se and the official press release