Swimmer's Daily

  • Joey is a young river otter at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale who won’t jump into the water, probably because he was separated from his mother before he learned to swim. He is making progress though, so go Joey. Read and see videos for instance on ABC 7 and RightThisMinute

  • For American swimmer Marcus Titus, being deaf is more advantage than disability, at least when it’s time to get in the water. “It helps me stay in my own world, helps me focus on what I need to do,” the 25-year-old said at the Pan American Games after winning a bronze medal in his first ever major competition not restricted to people with disabilities, with a 1:01.12 in the 100 breaststroke behind Brazil’s Felipe França da Silva and Felipe Lima in 1:00.34 and 1:00.99 respectively. Now he aims for a spot at the 2012 Olympic Team, read AP

  • We had a TV crew from the Danish national broadcasting channel DR following us to the Faroe Islands today, who are doing a segment for next Saturday evening. Already this evening, they had a short TV segment ready about Pál’s win in Stockholm, where he says he’s happy about winning a gold in Stockholm for the first time, but not so happy about the time.

    They are GoPro users by the way, cannot wait to see the underwater footage next weekend :-)

    DSC06604

  • Whoops, Mariana de Leon performing with her team here during the morning swimming competition at the Pan-American Games in Mexico this weekend. Via ABC News.

    video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

  • So Pál won gold in the 1500 freestyle at the Stockholm 2011 World Cup leg, in quite dominant style lapping everyone but Serbian Stefan Sorak. Our younger swimmers found it difficult to swim up to their best times, but the meet was nice and the stay superb. Hopefully coming back next year.

    Photo: René Thomsen

  • Small misunderstanding today, resulting in none of the 400 freestyle medalists being ready for the medal ceremony. Called to the scene, they were blocked because there was a medal ceremony taking place. Biedermann somehow got through, the two others had to wait until later for their medals. Looking forward to tomorrow.

  • Note to self: If you see a monster in the pool, don’t stop and shower when leaving :-)

    The Last Swim from Eirik Halset on Vimeo.

  • It has not fallen well with the Italian olympic committee that Federica Pellegrini doesn’t want to server as flag bearer for Italy at the London 2012 Games, with the excuse that she doesn’t want to stand in a stadium for up to eight hours the night before her first race.

    Gazzetta dello Sport reports the response of CONI president Gianni Petrucci thus: “I understand. But to carry the flag is not the Way of the Cross.” He adds a yet more bitter note when he suggests that the swimmer is not acting with maturity.

    But the nice lady knows how to answer: “Whoever doesn’t understand that for me to stand up for eight hours the day before my Olympic race is impossible, isn’t blessed with very much intelligence, either that or they don’t know what standing up for eight hours feels like.”

    Read SwimNews and AFP

  • From the Phoenix NewTimes Blogs, read also
    SwimmingWorld Magazine.

    A former Arizona State University swimmer drowned in a university-owned swimming pool early Monday morning, and authorities suspect alcohol was involved.

    James Rigg and Andrew Schneller, both 22 and former members of the ASU swim team, sneaked into the Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex in Tempe about 1:30 a.m. Monday by hopping a fence surrounding the complex.

    ASU Police Commander James Hardina tells New Times that Rigg and Schneller then had a contest to see which of them could swim the farthest under water.

    “When Scheneller came up he noticed Rigg was not swimming,” Hardina says. “He thought Rigg got out of the pool and was hiding so he got out and looked around for him. Then, he noticed his friend had sunk to the bottom of the pool.”

    Hardina also points out that the pool is 18 feet deep and no lights were on.

    Once he noticed Rigg on the bottom, Schneller pulled him out of the water and started giving him CPR before calling 9-1-1.

    Rigg was taken to Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead about 3 a.m.