Swimmer's Daily

  • TV4 Sport Sweden met Ryan Lochte at the Dual in The Pool in December 2011, apparently you have to wait three months to get a 10 minute interview with the American swim star.

  • Disclaimer: I don’t understand Russian well enough to be absolutely sure in my translation here, but it looks like Yana Martynova from Tatarstan was the first and only Russian to qualify for the Olympics yesterday, with a winning time of 4:38.69 in the 400 IM, exceeding the FINA A selection cut by 3.06 seconds. Egor Degtyarev was only 0.02 from the selection cut (and FINA A qualifying time) of 3:49.92, but was still happy with his first Russian Championships win, while Elena Sokolova was more unhappy with her 4:12.29 in the women’s 400 freestyle. Read russwimming.ru

  • Wow, turns out that penguins use a “coat of air bubbles” as lubricant for when rocketing toward the surface at 19 km an hour (that’s 100 meters in about 19 seconds), enabling small species like Adelia penguins to leap 2-3 meters out of the water, and the big Emperor penguins to reach heights of 20-45 cm … enough to leap out of holes in the ice. And that the air doesn’t come from the lungs, but from beneath the feathers.

    Penguins have great control over their plumage, Professor Davenport tells me.

    They raise their feathers to fill their plumage with air, then dive underwater. As the birds descend, the water pressure increases, decreasing the volume of the trapped air. At a depth of 15-20 metres, for example, the air volume has shrunk by up to 75%.

    The birds now depress their feathers, locking them around the new, reduced air volume.

    The penguin then swims vertically up as fast as it can, and the air in the plumage expands and pours through the feathers.

    “Because the feathers are very complex, the pores through which the air emerges are very small so the bubbles are initially tiny. They coat the outer feather surface.”

    Crucially, this coat of small air bubbles acts as a lubricant, drastically reducing drag, enabling the penguins to reach lift-off speeds.´

    Still, doesn’t help much when on land

    Read more here on the BBC, slippery slope penguin found on Nothing To Do With Arbroath

  • Awesome new video from P&G

  • At the South African Championships today, world-championship bronze medalist Cameron van der Burgh clocked 59.90, third best in the world so far this year, qualifying for the Olympics. Charl Crous qualified in the 100 backstroke semi with a time of 54.19, and Chad le Clos in the 200 freestyle semi with a time of 1:47.20. Yesterday Chad Le Clos and Riaan Schoeman qualified in the men’s 400 IM with 4:13.86 and 4:15.60 respectively, and Kahryn Meaklim with a time of 4:37.70 in the women’s 400 IM. And Heerden Herman managed a qualifying time of 3:48.57 in the men’s 400 freestyle, but apparently needs to win also the 1500 freestyle later in the week in order to qualify. Read SwimNews, SwimmingWorld Magazine here and here, and SuperSport.

  • At the Russian National Championships today, Olympic medal-winning swimmer Nikita Lobintsev finished 13th in the 400 meter freestyle, leaving national team coach Andrei Vorontsov feeling “outraged” and “offended”, suggesting it will cost Lobintes a place at the European Championships next month. There are now doubts over who will represent Russia in the 400 meters in London, after eventual winner Yegor Degtaryev finished outside the qualification time, and the places may be decided at other competitions.

    “I’m just outraged, I’m angry, I’m offended by what I saw today in the pool,” Vorontsov said.
    “I don’t need swimming like today’s, and nor do the teammates he might leave in the lurch in a relay race.”

    Read more here on RIA Novosti, on SwimmingWorld Magazine and see all results here (If you can read Cyrillic letters :-)

  • Texas officials are trying to determine how a man died during a challenging and at times chaotic obstacle race called the “Original Mud Run” last weekend, but race organizers are going ahead with another mud run for next month. Read more here on ABC News.

  • So WalesOnline wrote about a week ago that David Davies is aiming for a second swim at London 2012, wanting to qualify for the 10K open water event at the Olympic qualifier in Setubal, Portugal in June. And now Daniel Fogg wows to beat him at that, going to the same event both knowing that only one of them can qualify. Both have qualified in the 1500 freestyle, Fogg by breaking the 21-year-old English record with a time of 14.55.30 at the British Trials in March.

  • Ian Thorpe’s long-time manager Dave Flaskas has spoken of his split with his former star client, saying it was he who suggested a change of management. Read couriermail.

    “Ian and I still talk almost daily and I will continue to work with him but I thought it was time for him to move in a new direction . . . and I actually contacted James,” Flaskas told Confidential yesterday.

    “Times have definitely changed in regards to what is available out there for athletes. Ian has some things coming up in regards to the (London) Olympics . . . there are some commentary opportunities that he and James are looking at.”