60-year-old Canadian Mark Dumas has raised the polar bear, Dawn, since she was six weeks old. He clearly shares a loving relationship with the animal, swimming with it and kissing it an everything. That is until the predator instinct kicks in, of course :-S
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Crazy, crazy story from the Philippines today, a 30-year-old man jumped off the old Mandaue-Mactan bridge Wednesday night, landing on a swimmer below who was killed by the impact. While the man himself, who had suffered a nervous breakdown, beat the odds by surviving the 25-meter drop with a black eye and some bruises. Read Inquirer News.
(Photo of Mactan-Mandaue bridge courtesy of Mike Gonzalez/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)
At the Eindhoven Swim Cup tonight, Ranomi Kromowidjojo crushed the competition in the women’s 100 freestyle, posting a new world textile record of 52.75, ahead of Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström in 53.30 and Marleen Veldhuis in 53.95, both Dutch females under the Dutch Olympic cut of 54.30 (FINA A cut being 54.57). Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand won the men’s 100 freestyle in 48.99 (Dutch cut 48.67, FINA A cut 48.82), Sweden’s Joline Höstman the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:26.62 (Dutch cut 2:25.63, FINA A cut 2:26.89), Lennart Stekelenburg the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:11.70 (Dutch cut 2:11.39, FINA A cut 2:11.74), Sharon van Rouwendaal the women’s 100 backstroke in 1:01.07 (Dutch cut 1:00:40, FINA A cut 1:00.82), Bastian Lijesen the men’s 100 backstroke in 53.89, under the Dutch cut of 54.00 (FINA A cut 54.40) and Swiss swimmer Julie Hassler the women’s 800 freestyle in 8:43.49 (Dutch cut 8:29.41, FINA A cut 8:33.84).
“At first glance, competitive underwater leg wrestling seems, well, like a joke. Or a glorified game of footsie played in the pool. Or just a really effective way of getting kicked in the balls.” I predict a lot of swimmers getting kicked in the balls in the near future. Read Miami NewTimes and visit facebook.com/underwaterlegwrestling
The Icelandic Swimming Federation announced tonight that 17-year-old Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir is their first swimmer to qualify for the London 2012 Games, with a 2:10.38 in the women’s 200 backstroke at the Icelandic Championships right now, the FINA A cut being 2:10.84. This is also a new Icelandic record, the old one Eygló’s 2:12.33 from the Spanish Championships in Malaga in March.
Danish World and European champion Jeanette Ottesen Gray having a peaceful moment before warmup at the Szczecin 2011 European Short Course Championships. Even world champs have to settle for a spot among the luggage sometimes :-)
Jessica Hardy talking about the tough ride since Beijing 2008. Speedo sponsored or not, this journalist Matt Mason is doing an incredible job getting these talks down to earth. And by the way, USA Swimming: “I got sent home at 5 o’clock in the morning, one morning from the Olympic camp without saying goodbye to anyone”. Real classy!
According to the Australian Swim Team on Facebook, a total of seven individual Australian Age records (plus relay records) have fallen at the 2012 Australian Age Championships until now, meet closing tomorrow, including 4 by the hands of 13-year-old Kyle Chalmers from Norwood South Australia. Watch him break the Boys 12-13 100 freestyle record in the video below, with a scorching 52.29 ahead of the rest in 55+ seconds. Via simma.nu/no
At the Eindhoven Swim Cup tonight, Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström scorched the women’s 100 meter freestyle semifinal, with a time of 53.29 ahead of Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 53.60 and Marleen Veldhuis in 54.15. Julia Hassler from Switzerland won the women’s 400 freestyle in 4:14.03, Britain’s David Carry the men’s 400 freestyle in 3:50.52, Wendy v.d. Zanden the women’s 200 IM in 2:13.14 and Sebas van Lith the men’s 200 IM in 2:02.64, this meet apparently the last-chance London 2012 qualification meet for the Dutch. Read SwimNews and SwimmingWorld Magazine, see all results here.
