Swimmer's Daily

  • Read this by Diana Nyad on the Huffington Post

    “We act as if this is a unique situation. We have blared the Sandusky crimes and trial details across our front pages as if he’s a Jack the Ripper crime star of our times.

    Yes, he’s that big a criminal. Yes, justice has been served. Yes, the poor young men who suffered his molestations may never truly put those loathsome, dark moments behind them.

    But how many of these same creeps are operating right this minute, molesting our children, our children’s children and our neighbors, virtually and literally going after a terrifying percent of our entire youth population?

    Thousands, I tell you. Not hundreds. Thousands.”

  • Grant Hackett’s estranged singer wife brought in lawyers to try to stop Hackett appearing on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes after learning of the interview last week, friends said. Both sides are understood to have faced off on Thursday over whether the interview could go ahead, with Nine since being closely guarded over what will appear on the show. Read more here on the Herald Sun.

  • Great Britain’s James Goddard and behind him Spain’s Alan Cabello Forns, shortly after the Rijeka 2008 European Short Course Championships’ mens 200 IM medal ceremony. Goddard won in 1:53.46, see result list here.

    James Goddard at Rijeka 2008

  • Via SQAC BLOG

    Chloe Sutton – Olympic Swimmer from Bliss Imagery on Vimeo.

  • The Austrian Swimming Federation will be represented at the Olympic Games in London by nine swimmers, including two-time medal winning Markus Rogan. Individually qualified are Rogan, Dinko Jukić, Jördis Egger, Birgit Koschischek, Lisa Zaiser, Christian Scherübl and Nina Dittrich, and for the men’s 4×200 freestyle David Brandl and Florian Janistyn. Read swimsportnews.de

  • The Danish Swimming Federation announced today that Mathias Gydesen has received the official invitation from FINA to compete at the London Olympics, expected as he was only 1 hundredth of a second from qualifying back in March.

    Gydesen comments:

    ‘Of course I am relieved that the final decision has arrived, even though I saw it as a statistical trifle. I was and am still glad that the Danish Swimming Federation and the Sports Confederation of Denmark showed me faith back in april. Because of this, I have now the best opportunities to perform at the Olympics.’

    The Danish Olympic squad is hereby complete:

    Swimmers: Lotte Friis, Jeanette Ottesen, Rikke Møller Pedersen, Pernille Blume, Mie Østergaard Nielsen, Mads Glæsner, Mathias Gydesen, Daniel Skaaning, Anders Lie and Pál Joensen.

    Coaches: Paulus Wildeboer (national coach), Bas Jan Stam (assistant coach), Jón Bjarnason (Faroe Islands, team coach)

  • In the wake of new research, experts are calling for greater efforts to reduce drownings among the most vulnerable. Young children and minorities still face the greatest risk, according to a pair of new studies, and experts say more education on the importance of parental supervision and swim lessons is needed.

    “Just as we engineer for safety when it comes to suction entrapments, by now making unblockable drain covers, we need to better engineer for drowning prevention. Because supervision is spotty at best,” said Tom Griffiths, president and founder of Aquatic Safety Research Group, LLC.

    2012 World's Largest Swimming Lesson

    Read Aquatics International via Diversity in Aquatics

    Image courtesy of PoolSafely, CC BY 2.0

  • Henry and Conor Campbell are among a number of local swimmers headed to the U.S. Olymipic Swim Trials in Omaha that start Sunday. Via Insidenova

  • On this third day of the British Gas ASA National Swimming Championships, teenager Siobhan-Marie O’Connor became the youngest British swimmer ever to qualify for London 2012, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.04. “Having sacrificed her school prom.” Stephanie Proud qualified in the 200 backstroke, and Chris Walker-Hebborn his second Olympic selection with a time of 54.26 in the 100 backstroke. Read more here on swimming.org.

    “I’m so shocked,” said O’Connor. “I found it so hard to deal with missing out in March but I had to get back in and do the hard work.
    “At one point I never saw myself going to London but I’ve given everything in training.
    “I’ve focused so much since then and now I’m going to the Olympic Games. It is just unbelievable.”