What do the stars of the Australian Olympic Team think of when they think of London? James Magnussen, Anna Meares, Stephanie Rice and the Team share a few surprises…
Now when I think of London, I think of mild weather and light drizzle! :-D
Via the17thman
Yesterday The Wall Street Journal brought this story on how some American coaches including Rowdy Gaines cry foul over NCAA teams subsidizing world-class instructions for foreign Olympians, also called ‘the enemy’. Naming athletes like New Zealand swimmer Lauren Boyle and Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry. My first reaction was, ‘well, your loss’, knowing that many an American college would love to have swimmers like our Pál Joensen setting the pace during endurance sets.
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Others have gone to greater lengths, Casey Barrett of Caps and Goggles suggesting as a former ‘enemy’ that, yes, by going to the States, foreigners also improve all those young entitled American kids around them. The American Swimming Coaches Association ASCA outright condemning the article in an open letter, and SwimNews seemingly agreeing.
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I don’t know, when it comes to actual scholarships, it must be up to the Americans to decide if it is worth it or not. And if not, I expect an immediate improvement in for instance the European training environments, with all our champions staying at home :-)
A dare-devil cameraman narrowly avoided becoming dinner after a saltwater crocodile he was baiting on a remote Arnhem Land beach had a go at his video camera, via Nothing To Do With Arbroath
Tyler Clary with the Speedo Hydralign Goggles & Center Snorkel, via the17thman
Austrian Freediver Herbert Nitsch attempted a 800ft / 244m ‘no limits’ dive today in Santorini, Greece, managing a confirmed target depth and re-ascend up until the planned stop depth of 10m, but then felt unwell and had to be escorted to the surface where he received an oxygen regulator and went down again for a 15 minutes decompression dive. Conscious and communicated, his condition was still critical enough to require an air transfer to a decompression champer in Athens, now showing strong signs of recovery though still in intensive care under close observation. It is doubtful whether this will be accepted as a world record, without a clear and successful surface protocol and no AIDA judges present, but still, -244 meters. Read Deeper Blue here and here.
Finland’s Noora and Jenna Laukkanen competing at the Debrecen 2012 European Swimming Championships. I was told that they are sisters, Noora (1993) Finnish record holder in the 200 breaststroke (2:28.30) and Jenna (1995) in the 100 (1:09.39). In Debrecen they competed fiercely, Jenna leading up until 150 and Noora then edging ahead 2:32.21 to 2:33.33.
Miami Dolphins cheerleaders lip dubbing to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe“. Love the fact that in order to make it (if possible) a little more sexy, they added water and swimsuits without a football in sight :-)
According to the Herald Sun, Aussie ‘bad boys’ Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk “have sparked outrage after they posed with high-powered weapons in a US gun shop”, to the point where Swimming Australia demanded pictures taken off Facebook and issued this statement, promising a talk with the athletes upon return to Australia:
“Swimming Australia became aware of inappropriate photos posted on athlete Facebook pages and Twitter accounts this morning, and instantly contacted the athletes involved to ask for them to be removed under Swimming Australia’s Social Media Guidelines”
Now, I get the idea that these are guns “similar to those used in the Virginia Tech and Port Arthur massacres”. I also get that since those two are already ‘bad boys’ for other reasons, they should maybe be especially careful when doing stunts like these. I’m not a weapons man myself, have never owned even a BB gun, but still, for some reason I suddenly remember sentences like “guns don’t kill people, …”.
Even with strict gun laws like in Denmark and Norway, the crazed ones find ways to harm others. In the Faroes we have very relaxed gun laws, but thankfully next to none killed or harmed by them (or anything else) for decades. So, without further ado, here are ‘the darlings of Danish swimming‘ actually shooting big guns in Leadville.
Sorry if I offend anyone with these words, those who know me know that I cried my eyes out with the rest of you when all that Breivik mess happened last summer. But I’m sort of with D’Arcy and Monk on this one.
Via SwimNews
Courtesy of Huffpost Comedy
