Swimmer's Daily

  • Official observer Steve Munatones shares his observations of Diana Nyad

    And here is Nyad singing and cheering up the crew

  • Michigan coach Gus Stager and Chet “the jet” Jastremski show Bud Palmer and CBS’s Sunday Sports Spectacular how to swim the breast stroke at the 1961 AAU national swimming championships from Yale University.

  • Yessir, Lochte trademarked the phrase “Jeah” on August 1, according to a filing with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The filing reveals that Lochte hopes to put the word on everything from goggles to sunglasses to jewelry and beer mugs. The swimmer, who won two golds and two bronze medals in the 2012 Olympic Games, said his term is a modification of “Chea,” a word rapper Young Jeezy frequently uses. Read for instance ESPN, USA Today and SOHH

  • Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte Friday offered her two silver medals from the London 2012 Olympic Games to Our Lady of Monserrat in Barcelona, saying both were of “equal value” to her. Read for instance Catholic News Agency.

    “One cost a little bit more effort than the other because it was a longer race,” she recalled. “But all of my rivals were very tough and before it starts you don’t know what is going to happen because everyone is very strong.”

    Really interesting details in that article is that Belmonte has schlerosis: “The swimmer was born in Badalona, Spain, in 1990. She began swimming at the age of four at the recommendation of doctors to help correct her sclerosis.”

  • There you have it, Michael Phelps’ longtime agent, Peter Carlisle, dismissing any suggestion that Phelps may have violated IOC rules when provocative pictures for a Louis Vuitton ad campaign were leaked on the Internet during the London Games. Read for instance kaaltv.com and All Voices

    “He didn’t violate Rule 40, it’s as simple as that,” Carlisle said in a telephone interview. “All that matters is whether the athlete permitted that use. That’s all he can control. In this case, Michael did not authorize that use. The images hadn’t even been reviewed, much less approved. It’s as simple as that. An athlete can’t control unauthorized uses any more than you can guarantee someone isn’t going to break into your house.”

  • Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe was battling alcohol problems and depression as he struggled to cling on to his career after the Athens Olympics, his new tell-all autobiography has revealed. The book was written in conjunction with author Robert Wainwright and will be released through publishers Simon and Schuster on October 1. Read for instance Perth Now and News Track India

    The Olympic gold medallist’s former mentor and swimming legend Shane Gould, whose husband Milt Nelms coached Thorpe, said she first picked up on the tell-tale signs of Thorpe’s depression when he returned from the US in 2006.

    “He was quite uncertain and emotional, which can be a sign of depression. I said to Milt, ‘I think he needs some professional help’,” she said.

    Gould said she was aware of his problems with alcohol.

    “The trouble with alcohol is it’s a depressant and it can be the cause (of depression),” Gould said.

    Ian Thorpe, photo courtesy of mtlin, cc by-nc-nd

  • Interesting details in this Brisbane Times article titled “Are elite athletes born or made?“, on how coach Denis Cotterell thinks as others that champion athletes like Hackett have benefited from a series of unusual circumstances – including themselves.

    Hackett had already clocked 10,000 hours in the pool when he was 16 or 17, Cotterell says. The swimmer claimed the first of his 13 Olympic or world titles soon after, in Perth in 1998.
    “He’d been swimming since he was six,” Cotterell says. “It’s [the 10,000-hour rule] a fair reference, you really do have to put that in.”
    Hackett had a “natural affinity” with the water but Cotterell says he’s never had a pupil as dedicated.
    “He could take the hard work, he wanted to do the hard work, he thrived on it,” Cotterell says.
    “He embraced what I gave him but he was demonic about his application to work. He wanted to succeed.”
    Hackett’s story also bears some similarity to Syed’s. Like many Queenslanders, Hackett loved the water – a hobby suited by the state’s climate. He had a brother, Craig, who became a champion ironman, whom he could aspire to. He was also part of a strong swimming club where Olympians Daniel Kowalski and Andrew Baildon underlined the value of hard work.

    (more…)

  • Catch Ross Lewis’ exclusive interview with WA swimmer Eamon Sullivan in which he discusses Australia’s performance in the London 2012 pool and he plans for a new restaurant in Perth with a couple of other Olympic stars.

  • A photo from the 2012 Swim Across The Bay in Klaksvík, Faroe Islands, yesterday. First swimmer Alvi already out of the water and the second Lív on her way. Not so easy, trying to get steady video on a relatively narrow fish farm ring, with people moving about and around me, and waves in general from fast moving boats around us. My wife Lis took the photo from the start zone 200 meters across the bay. And yes, there was a drizzle.

    Me trying to get steady shots on a crowded fish farm ring