Swimmer's Daily

  • The giant Westfield mall will be an integral part of the London Games experience for many fans heading to events at Olympic Park. See Yahoo! Sports

  • The 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials have come to a close, Jessica Hardy and Kara Lynn Joyce took the women’s 50 freestyle Olympic tickets in 24.50 and 24.73, while Andrew Gemmell and Connor Jaeger took the men’s 1500 freestyle seats in 14:52.19 and 14:52.51. USA Swimming named its London 2012 Olympic team roster shortly afterwards, Missy Franklin participating in 6 events while Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps take 5 each, including internal head-to-head duels in the 200 and 400 IM.

    “Missing it by less than a tenth of a second is tough,” Torres said. “Going to the Olympic trials against girls half my age, it’s OK. I mean, I’m used to winning but that wasn’t the goal here. The goal was trying to make it. I didn’t quite do it.” – SwimNews

    See all results from day 8 here.

    Dara Torres Mixed Zone Interview D8 50 free

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  • British professional track and road bicycle racer Bradley Wiggins is one of the major contenders for the Tour De France crown this year, placed no 2 after the prolog on Saturday and having won the Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this year. His training program has aroused considerable interest, under stewardship of Tim Kerrison, an Australian coach with background in swimming who among other things was on the 2004 Australian Olympic Swim Team, in particular because Kerrison recommends that the rider dispense with the idea of using races as training.

    “My coach has not been in cycling for long, he’s come from swimming, so I’ve pretty much been training like the swimmers train,” Wiggins told reporters in Bourg-en-Bresse. “I’ve been constantly training through the year, so it’s not like the traditional way for cycling, which is starting in January fat or in really bad condition, and then building, building and showing form in these races.”

    Read more here on Cycling News.

  • Phelps dropped the 200-meter freestyle from his Olympic program Monday, which means he will swim seven events in London and won’t try to duplicate his otherworldly eight gold medals in eight events in Beijing.

    “So you won’t hear the number eight again,” said a smiling Bob Bowman, Phelps’ longtime coach, who announced the change. “It just makes sense. Nobody should be expected to do that twice. Once was more than enough. Trust me.”

    Michael Phelps Post Race Press Conference D7 100m Butterfly

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  • Australia’s Olympic athletes have been banned from using Stilnox, Rohypnol and Mogadon and warned their rooms will be raided if they are suspected of using the sedatives. Read The Herald Sun.

    “Please confirm that the search and seizure provisions in our Team Membership Agreements for athletes and officials will enable the Team Executive to enter bedrooms,” he wrote.

  • Grant Hackett’s former coach Denis Cotterell has no doubt the controversial sleeping medication Stilnox cost the 1500 freestyle champion his third and historic Olympic gold medal. Read The Australian

    According to Cotterell, Hackett had slipped into an adaptation phase after swimming two astonishing broken 1500m time trials at the Australian team’s staging camp in Singapore and began to panic when he arrived in Beijing to find that his speed had deserted him.

    “He couldn’t sleep so he took the Stilnox to settle his nerves,” Cotterell said. “For sure that contributed to his lack of clarity in the 1500m final. I’ve got no doubts about that.”

    Swimming – Men's 1500M Freestyle Final – Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games

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  • PlanetSport.tv meets the Malawi Olympic Team as they arrive in the UK, at their training camp in Gloucester University. Charlton Nyirenda shares his thoughts on swimming in the Olympics for the second time and what it means to represent his country at the highest level.

    Charlton Nyirenda Olympic Build Up 2012 from Planet Sport on Vimeo.

  • The 16th FINA World Championships will take place in Kazan, Russia in 2015! Discover the first images in this video! Via the17thman

    Kazan 2015 – teaser

  • This is just amazing, at the U.S. Olympic Trials yesterday evening, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin qualified for the Olympics alongside Cullen Jones in the men’s 50 freestyle, 21.60 to 21.59 (2000 Olympic gold was 21.98), Ervin having returned only last year from what sounds like a rock ‘n roll walkabout since 2003. Brushing aside other favorites like Nathan Adrian and Josh Schneider, true talent manifesting itself. Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel took the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:06.12 and 2:07.58, Michael Phelps and Tyler McGill the men’s 100 butterfly in 51.14 and 51.32 (good on you, McGill!), and Kathleen Ledecky and Kate Ziegler the women’s 800 freestyle in 8:19.78 to 8:21.87. See all results from day 7 here.

    Anthony Ervin Mixed Zone Interview D7 50 free