Hop on the London Underground at Jesse Owens station. After one stop change at Carl Lewis, and then ride the Tube all the way to Michael Phelps. That will get you from central London out to the Olympic Stadium. The London Underground has taken on a new look with Transport for London’s Olympic Legends Map. Instead of Piccadilly Circus, Baker Street and Knightsbridge, the map has changed the names of 361 stations to celebrate Olympians. Read more here on sbs.com.au and see complete map here.
There is no end in sight to the Speedo suit controversy plaguing the Australian swimming team and their chief sponsor, with just two swimmers willing to wear the Speedo product in its current form. Via the Sydney Morning Herald
According to sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, both sponsored by Adidas and going to wear an unmarked Adidas suit at the London Olympics, dissatisfaction with the new Speedo suit is so high many are applying for official exemptions to regulations demanding they compete in it.
“I think there’s about two people on the team who are happy with the Speedo suit at the moment,” Bronte Campbell said. “I think most of the team is happy with the older Speedo suit, so they may have to look at [wearing] that, but it’s not really an issue for us at all and I can’t really comment on what anyone else thinks of it.”
The Japanese distributor for the Arena brand, announced today that it has signed Kosuke Kitajima. The two-year contract begins April 1, 2012 for an undisclosed amount. Kitajima will begin wearing Arena at the Japanese Olympic Trials, April 2-8, at the Tatsumi Aquatics Center in Tokyo. Kitajima had previously contracted with Mizuno. Read more here on SwimmingWorld Magazine
In other news, Alain Bernard is also an Arena man, here testing the Powerskin Carbon Pro. Seems like every decent swimmer out there is switching to the Arena brand (aah, let the trash talk begin … and no, I’m not sponsored by Arena :-)
Hungary’s Dani Gyurta very happy after his men’s 200 meter breaststroke win at the Rome 2009 World Aquatics Championships. Winning time 2:07.64, Australia’s Christian Sprenger had set the 2:07.31 world record in the semifinal the day, but swam 2:07.80 in the final, joint 3rd with Lithuanian Giedrius Titenis, USA’s Eric Shanteau in between with a 2:07.65. Tired swimmers in the pool are (I guess) Eric Shanteau on lane 5 and Italy’s Loris Facci on lane 7, see startlist.
The highest shallow dive was from a height of 11.20 m (36 ft 8.94 in) into 30 cm (12 in) of water and was achieved by Darren Taylor (a.k.a. Professor Splash, USA) in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, on 26 November 2011. See the Guinness Book of World Records.
Award winning documentarian Richard Fitzpatrick, together with the team from the Catlin Seaview Survey, will be hanging out on Google+ from beneath the sea LIVE from the Great Barrier Reef this Friday March 30 at 3:45 p.m. Sydney Time (that’s early Friday morning 04:45.00 UTC in Europe). Leave your questions and comments for the divers here, Google+ is sort of a mix of Facebook and Twitter, only without your friends :-P
(OK, that was uncalled for … I use Google+, and I like it, but then I’m a geek :-)
Interesting fact here on Slate:
Because it’s practically freezing down there. The water temperature at the bottom of the ocean usually hovers around 37 degrees Fahrenheit, and most deep-sea exploration vehicles don’t have climate control. Explorers tend to bring hats, gloves, long johns, and other warm layers, which they pull on as they descend and the temperature drops. Socks and caps are particularly important, as it’s coldest on the floor and ceiling of the submersible. Because of concerns over electrical fires, deep-sea explorers wear natural fibers like cotton and especially wool, which is fire retardant, instead of synthetic fabrics.
News broke last week that former Mission Viejo Nadadores assistant coach Daniel Ad’m Dusenbury “may face a lifetime ban from swimming following allegations that he had sex with an underage female Nadadores swimmer” according to the Orange County Register.
Interviews with Nadadores officials, parents and others indicate that Nadadores coaches and officials may have suspected as early as 2006 that Dusenbury, then 28, was involved with a then 16-year-old Nadadores swimmer, who also attended Aliso Niguel High School. Some coaches and club officials continued to discount evidence that surfaced in recent months that appears to confirm that Dusenbury had a sexual relationship with the girl that lasted more than four years.
At the Canadian Olympic trials yesterday, Brittany MacLean clocked 4:06.08 in the women’s 400 freestyle to lower the previous mark of 4:07.32 set by Brittany Reimer at the 2005 world championships in Montreal. MacLean qualified easily for the Olympics, along with Savannah King in 4:07.02. Scott Dickens qualified with a 1:00.42 in the men’s 100 breaststroke, Alec Page and Blake Worsley with 4:17.78 and 4:23.22 in the men’s 400 IM, and Katerine Savard with a 58.45 in the women’s 100 butterfly. Read more here on swimming.ca.
