Shetland coach Keith Oliver participated in all men’s and mixed relays at the Rhodes 2007 NatWest Island Games, I guess because they’d otherwise only be three male swimmers. This photo is from the last mixed 8 x 50 freestyle fun relay – as you can see, he’d chosen the state of the art pants of that era, unfortunately though not enough to win the event.
Funny how music can make a ‘fun swim’ slideshow really, really dramatic :-)
A Faroese music video handpicked by Vimeo Staff to be one of “the videos we really, really love”. The grey people here are the mythical “huldufólk” (‘hidden people’), who according to Faroese folklore live in big rocks and mounds around the islands. “Orka” is the band’s name, song title “Aldan Reyð” translates to ‘the red wave’. Director Heiðrik á Heygum made that tribute to his swimming granny that I posted here in August. Don’t count on the ‘hidden people’ to save you if you drown.
ORKA – Aldan Reyð (Director: Heiðrik á Heygum) from Heidrik á Heygum on Vimeo.
Wow, great shot here on the United States Marine Corps Official (Flickr) Page, CC BY-NC 2.0. Major Greg Burgess won a silver medal in the 200 IM at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1997 and has among other things served two tours of duty in Iraq.
Here is a Morning Swim Show from back in 2010, where Peter Busch interviews Greg Burgess
The Monterotondo municipal pool in Monterotondo was one of the four additional Roma 2009 World Championships 50 meter training facilities, and the only one indoor. I remember it as a long bus ride, but really nice because we got a break from the sun :-)
Every kid can swim but for Hugo water is still very dangerous. Absolutely beautiful video here.
It will be up to Ryan Lochte to say “Drivers, start your engines” as Grand Marshal for the first Gatorade Duel this Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Read for instance PaddockTalk, The Daytona Beach News-Journal and www.speedwaymedia.com
This Nascar Prayer from Nashville, but still :-)
Fancy headwear at the Rijeka 2008 European Short Course championships.
Wild story here on SwimNews.com (source Courier Mail), on how Australia’s Alicia Coutts was elbowed in the head and spat at by a European opponent on the way to her blocks for the 100m freestyle final at the Shanghai 2011 World Championships.
“I’d never had anyone try to psych me out before. It must be a sprint freestyle thing,” Coutts tells the CM. “I was sitting in the marshalling room next to a particular swimmer and she elbowed me in the head . . . then she continuously kept elbowing me. She just spat in front of me while I was walking … it was disgusting. People just playing mind games. It can’t be a fair race, I would never do that to someone. She obviously thought I was a threat, she felt she needed to put me off.”
Here is a video from that event – as mentioned on Speed Endurance Swimming Blog, Alicia Coutts doesn’t look too happy.
Suspects are these Europeans in that final: gold medalist Jeanette Ottesen (DEN); gold medalist Aliaksandra Herasimenia (BLR), bronze medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 4th placed Francesca Halsall (GBR), and 5th placed Femke Heemskerk (NED).
