Swimmer's Daily

  • Touching article here on Bergens Tidende, where coach Sondre Solberg and teammate Aleksander Dale Hetland from Alexander Dale Oen’s club Bærumsvømmerne describe the shock they are in now. Solberg the guilt of having left a few days before Alex died (‘What if I had been close to him when it happened, maybe in his room’) and Hetland the last tough days in Flagstaff. Both are though certain that Alexander would have flipped if they didn’t go on with the training, himself renowned for always giving it all.

    And then come the really nice touches, at least for a sentimental guy like me who likes to sing. That they will miss the fun, the comments, the good and bad jokes, the laughter, and the singing. That on the days when they endured heavy training, he would clap his hands and start singing “Det er min dag i dag, herregud for en herlig dag” (‘It is my day today, oh my lord what a lovely day’). And that when he was suffering even more, he would sing “Dar kjem dampen, gamle dampen” (‘There comes the steamer, the old steamer’) – A song about the old steamboat that tied the rural area where he came from together with big city Bergen.

    And the examples of excellence. Coach Solberg – »I remember especially a training pass in Hundsund in the fall, before the short-course championships in Poland. It was so cool. Hetland came with new input on start and turns. It was an eye-opener for Oen. He said: “Just one more time.” And when we had kept on for a while, he said: “Just one more time.” I felt we should stop. Suddenly Oen says: “Give me half a minute more”. Then he stood totally still and visualized, and then said: “I’ve got it”.« A few weeks later, he won European gold in the 100 short-course breaststroke, at least partially because of good start and turns.

    The next target is the Europeans in Debrecen, where Aleksander Hetland will try to qualify in the 100 breaststroke, the Olympic qualifying time 1:00.7. If you would like to hear a small example of Aleksander Dale Oen singing, then you could listen to this video that his longtime friend and teammate Sander Smørdal points to online, from one of these camps in Flagstaff, where they went to the Grand Canyon.

  • This must be the ‘best swimmers of the meet’ – podium, Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson, Alexander Dale Oen and a lot of other talented swimmers and officials at the 2010 Reykjavík International. My daughter took the photo, participating swimmer on her first assignment for my Faroese site www.svimjing.com :-)

    Alex, Kobbi and others at the 2010 Reykjavík International

  • Nice blog post here on the Scottish Sun, by Olympic qualified Robbie Renwick, with an important message too:

    The scary thing is there seems to have been a trend just lately for fit young athletes to have heart problems.

    First Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba collapsed, then the Italian player, Piermario Morosini, dropped dead on the pitch. Now Dale Oen.

    For me, something has to be done to check on a regular basis that hearts and everything else are working properly.

    I haven’t had my heart screened at all. I feel 100 per cent healthy — but Dale Oen probably did too.

  • The Powerbreather is an advanced breathing system for swimmers, designed to decrease apprehension in beginners and increase focus and performance among advanced swimmers. Essentially a sealed, watertight snorkel, an intake valve located on the back of the head allows the swimmer to take in fresh air while a second valve pumps exhaled air completely out, the device designed to keep all water out, so that breathing remains unimpeded. And it puts a smile on your face. Via gizmag

  • Shipbuilding company Drydocks World has signed a multi-million deal with Swiss BIG InvestConsult to develop an partially submerged resort off the coast of Dubai, called the Water Discus Hotel. Designs show two discs, one fully submerged and one above sea level, the one submerged including 21 rooms with views of the surrounding coral reef 10 meters down and possible to be evacuated by lifting the entire disc out of the water. Read for instance Wanderlust and The National.

  • On March 11, 2012, 17-year-old open water junior worlds qualified Barbara Benke from Brazil was tested positive to the substance Isometheptene (Class S.6 Stimulants), and therefore imposed a sanction of 4 month’s ineligibility starting on that day. And on March 25, 2012, 19-year-old 2009 Youth Asian Games champion Litvina Yuliya from Kazakhstan was tested positive to the substance Methylhexaneamine (Class S.6 Stimulants), and imposed a sanction of 6 month’s ineligibility. See FINA here and here

  • Ian Crocker shares the life lessons he’s learned through the sport of swimming at a Mutual of Omaha BREAKout! Swim Clinic. Ian shares how his college coach, Kris Kubik, reminded him before his Olympic race that there’s no miracles in swimming. What you put in the sport is what you get out of it. Hits home here with me – the other sensation in Faroese sports was when our soccer team won a match against Austria back in 1990 (the year when Pál was born). People were at first reluctant to call Pál’s feat bigger than that, but that was just a miracle in a game, while this now is hard work in a sport! :-)

  • Not the best of photos, but a really fond memory from the FINA 2010 World Cup leg in Stockholm. The Faroese swim team together with Alexander Dale Oen.

    Us and Alexander at the Stockholm 2010 World Cup

  • There has been talk about Alexander Dale Oen getting a statesman’s funeral, as did ski jumper Birger Ruud (1911 – 1998) and marathon runner Grete Waitz (1953 – 2011). But then yesterday the Norwegian government decided not to do this, and then the municipality of Øygarden confirmed that they would like to help as a final gesture to their local hero. The funeral will be from the small church of BlomvÃ¥g in Øygarden, with seating for only 300 people so they’ll have to make other arrangements also. Date not set yet, see BergensAvisen.

     
    Image of Blomvåg Kirke courtesy of Bohuslen / Wikimedia Commons