Olympic superstar Ian Thorpe has made a great start in his campaign to qualify for the Olympics, clocking 1:49.16 behind Ryan Napoleon in 1.48.27, Kyle Richardson in 1:48.57, Kenrick Monk in 1:48.72, Cameron McEvoy in 1:48.89 and with David McKeon also clocking 1:49.16. Semis are in a few hours, then the final tomorrow.
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London 2012 pool to host 2016 Euros
Britain will host the European Championships for swimming, diving and synchronised swimming at the London Aquatics Centre in 2016 if a bid by British Swimming is rubber stamped as expected in September. Read more here on SwimNews and here on swimming.org
(Image of London Aquatics Centre courtesy of Andy Wilkes, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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Energy Australia Power to Move commercial
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Aquatics at London 2012
This is us :-)
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Keri-anne Payne on her Olympic bid
Olympic open water swimming silver medallist and world champion Keri-anne Payne has launched the British Gas Great Swim Series 2012 and confirmed that the British Gas Great London Swim on Saturday 26th May and the British Gas Great North Swim on Friday 22-24th June will feature in her training plan for the summer. Read more here on the Manchester Evening News. Video courtesy of Great Swim on facebook
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4 Aussies flee bar tab by base jumping off skyscraper
This has absolutely nothing to do with swimming, except it is happening in the same country as the Australian Olympic Trials :-)
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Paulus Wildeboer coach of the year in Denmark
The Danish newspaper B.T. has elected Paulus Wildeboer, head coach of the national swim team, as the 2011 Coach of the Year, across all sports, for his accomplishments with Danish swimmers at the World Championships in Shanghai and the European Short Course Championships in Szczecin. Sports Editor Jacob Staehelin commented “You have lifted Danish swimming up among the World’s superpowers, and taught the athletes what is required to be part of the World elite.” Wildeboer expressed gratitude, saying it is not often that the work of the coach is promoted, but also a warning that the progress can all stop in an instant, if Lotte Friis, Jeanette Ottesen and Rikke Møller Pedersen decide to quit after the Olympics. See also svoem.dk
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American hotels rushing to meet new swimming pool accessibility regulations
A new mandate from the U.S. Department of Justice requires all hotels and public facilities to have at least one way for a person with a disability to enter and exit the water, and two ways if the pool is 300 feet or longer. The options include a ramp a transfer platform, steps with hand rails or a hydraulic lift. Read for instance Hawaii News Now and First Coast News
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Fraser-Holmes and Napoleon unfazed by Thorpe
With the big moment of truth coming up, the Australian Men’s 200 freestyle prelims Friday morning, semis in the evening and then finals Saturday night, it is time for a bit of polite and respectful trash talk, from two who’ve already qualified :-)
And the 20-year-old Fraser-Holmes said he would treat 29-year-old Thorpe as simply another competitor to be beaten.
“What he’s done is incredible,” Fraser-Holmes said on Thursday.
“But no offence, that was a couple of years ago.
Fellow 200m hopeful Ryan Napoleon, 21, was similarly unfazed.
“It’s going to be good but it’s not like I’m going to be intimidated by him or anything,” Napoleon said.
“When he was in his prime, I think I was 14 … so I’m not going to be too bothered about what he was doing then, it’s all about what he’s doing now.”