Swimmer's Daily

  • 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

  • 62-year-old Diana Nyad jumped in the waters near Havana on Saturday in her fourth bid to make the record-making crossing, to swim from Cuba to the USA without a shark cage. She has already been stung by jellyfish a couple of times, but is still swimming according to her Twitter stream. Read for instance USA Today

    In June, Australian endurance swimmer Penny Palfrey made it 79 miles toward Florida before throwing in the towel in the face of strong currents.
    A fiercely driven competitor, Nyad acknowledged it was hard to watch Palfrey come close to snatching away her long-held goal.
    “If she had succeeded I would have congratulated her, because I know how difficult it is, more than anybody. And after all, this is not my ocean,” Nyad said. “But it is my dream. … Frankly — how can I lie? — I’m glad that I still have the chance to be first.”

  • London resident Rebecca Clarke was visiting friends in Skegness, England, when she saw this strange sight, initially thinking it was just rubbish floating in the water, but on further inspection deciding it may be some creature. See Arbroath

    She said: “It might seem silly but I thought it looked rather reptilian, like a crocodile or a dragon as the fins seemed more rigid than they do on sharks.” Skegness RNLI coxswain John Irving was intrigued by the footage of the creature, which he felt could either be a killer whale or a basking shark.

    Here is footage of a basking shark spotted near White Horse Beach in Plymouth, MA. You decide.

  • Medal winners of the 2012 annual open water swim across the bay of Klaksvík, today. A video is on its way :-)

    Swim Across the Bay of Klaksvík 2012 Medal Winners

  • 17-Year-Old Missy Franklin on coming home an Olympic Champion, via SQAC Blog

  • This video shows why an extra floater strap is a good idea. Uploaded by YouTube user BackyardJim, it’s the last video on the memory card of a camera found at the bottom of a plunge pool near Woodstock, NY. He is looking for the owner, see PetaPixel