Swimmer's Daily

  • Quite a provocative read, but unfortunately quite right, here in the Chicago Tribune:

    The difference in global renown between Phelps, the greatest swimmer in history, and Bolt, the fastest sprinter in history, is as simple as the difference in the inclusiveness of their sports.

    Swimming remains a white bread sport. Not a single black athlete won a medal in the 40 events at the 2011 world championships. Only 20 countries accounted for the 120 medals, just one nation from Africa (South Africa, three bronze) and one from South America (Brazil three).

    The spread is even more limited in events that are on the Olympic program, since two of Brazil’s medals and two of South Africa’s came in 50-meter events contested only at worlds.

    Now for track and field. Forty-one countries won medals in the 47 events at the recent worlds. (All are on the Olympic program).

    (more…)

  • Following the craze of planking, here comes www.leisuredive.com where divers try to strike a ‘leisure pose’ in mid-air before hitting the water. “Ideally, a photographer captures the moment when the diver has reached peak height above water, when his or her hips are parallel to the waterline. If successful, the result is an airborne Corona commercial you can post to your preferred social networking platform, or mantle, if you’re old school.” Submit your best results here, and be famous in an instant ! Via Mail Online (and Jón Bjarnason)

  • Went to Korsør in Denmark last weekend, to attend the annual “Aqua Clinic“, featuring Sean Kelly this year, head coach at Stockport Metro (Keri-Anne Payne, James Goddard, (quarter Faroese) David Carry and others). He was great, tough but emphatic, thinking not only about what happens in the pool, but also about his swimmers’ and coaches’ well-being in general. Me and Bjarnason got to drive with him and Jesper Harder to the airport, and had a nice chat out there also. Great guy!

  • During the Shanghai 2011 World Aquatic Championships, fans of swimming were treated to the most extensive exhibition of aquatic memorabilia ever displayed outside of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Didn’t have time to go see it while in Shanghai, so nice to see a bit of it here.

    ISHOF Shanghai Exhibition from Jarret Streiner on Vimeo.

  • At the recent ASCA Convention in San Diego, during a demonstration of the Endless Pool Elite, GoSwim tested the LifeProof waterproof iPhone case. Nice sci-fi sound while underwater, but that is maybe just the pump.

  • Nice video (and great soundtrack), but as a father of teenage daughters, I’m sure this was one of those days that daddy chose to stay at work, rather than suffer the noise of 20 giggling girls.

    Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Chiron Swim Party from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.

  • Zhang Nan was bathing with live eels to cleanse his skin at a beauty spa in China, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain and realised a small eel was working its way up his urethra and into his bladder. “I tried to hold it and take it out, but the eel was too slippery when held and it disappeared up my (bleep!)”. He had to undergo a three-hour operation to remove the six-inch eel, which turned out to be dead by then. Read more here on Metro.

  • According to the London Evening Standard, the host nation’s cycling and swimming teams are set to miss the extravaganza at the 80,000-capacity Olympic stadium on July 27, meaning that at least 150 of the 550-strong team will not be there. Coaches are worried that the hours-long ceremony, which will finish at 11pm to accomodate US primetime TV, will sap competitors’ energy. British cycling is set to announce an outright ban, while David Sparkles, chief executive of Brittish Swimming says: “It is unlikely much of the team will be there. If a swimmer wants to participate we need to be convinced that it is not going to compromise performance.”

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  • During (I guess) the San Francisco Bay 10K Bridge-to-Bridge Swim last Saturday, a harbour seal bit John Reichmuth from Berkely so badly that it left a large, gaping wound above his left ankle and punctured four holes in his right leg, just below the knee. “I had my hands on it and punched it, and it was kind of a melee, and then it took off”. But he was actually quite relieved that it was a harbor seal and not a sea lion, because he’s had encounters with them, and “they are huge. They’re like 400 pounds. They look like bears”. Read more here on abc7.