Natalie du Toit represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, at the age of just 14, before having half of her left leg amputated after a car hit her scooter in 2001. That didn’t stop her Olympic dreams though, first qualifying and winning five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens, and then again in Beijing 2008 winning 5 gold medals at the Paralympics and qualifying for the able-bodied Olympics in the 10K open water event. Read more here on cnn.com.
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The Race Club’s secret tip on breathing
“So the point is, we need as much oxygen as we can get!”
Read more here on theraceclub.net
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WADA launches CoachTrue
In order to meet the coaches’ learning needs and their demanding schedule, WADA launches CoachTrue, the computer-based, self-teaching anti-doping tool. It consists of a pre-test, evaluating the coach’s current knowledge, video tutorials, scenario-based activities, some fun test called ‘Who Wants to Play True’, post-test and certification. Read more here on fina.org.
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Phelps beat Lochte in the 200 back
After two defeats in the 200 free and 200 butterfly earlier in the weekend, Michael Phelps outswam Olympic champion Ryan Lochte over 200 backstroke yesterday at the Charlotte UltraSwim 2010, winning in 1:57.20 to 1:58.82. “I saw a splash out of the corner of my eye and saw the green suit, so I knew it was Ryan. I ended up with two terrible races and one halfway decent one.”. Read more here on SwimNews.com.
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9NEWS segment on Missy Franklin
Colorado’s 9NEWS focusing on Missy Franklin here, partially using the same video source as the USA Today segment, but with other clips and quotes. Nice classic from her coach Todd Schmitz: “Everybody loves to win, but there are a few people who hate to lose, and those are typically the Olympians. I don’t think Missy would ever tell you she hates to lose, but she hates to lose.”
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Wu beat Phelps again in the 200 fly
Yesterday evening at Charlotte UltraSwim 2011, China’s Wu Peng beat Michael Phelps for the second time in a row, in Phelps’ signature event, the 200 butterfly. Clearly also, with Wu winning in 1:56.83, and Phelps finishing second in 1:58.22. Via SwimNews.com.
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Drinking only to thirst (no more, no less) improves performance
Shocker, the classic dogma might be wrong, that you should ‘drink ahead of thirst, otherwise it is already to late’. This is the message of a new British Journal of Sports Medicine meta-analysis, pointing out that many of the classic studies are time-to-exhaustion tests, rather that test where you cover a given distance as fast as possible.
(Picture courtesy of Jason Patel, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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Great Britain is the black hole of live streaming
British Swimming and the BBC are massively promoting their Big Splash campaign these days, with the very interesting Great Salford Swim being broadcasted live on BBC 2 tomorrow at 14:00 UK time, featuring Keri-Anne Payne, David Davies, Ian Thorpe and others. Things we really want to watch – but alas, for some reason the Brits don’t like the internet, or at least not us outside ‘their area’.
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Meichtry mauled Lochte and Phelps
Swiss swimmer Dominik Meichtry soundly beat Ricky Berens, Markus Rogan, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps and others at the Charlotte UltraSwim 2011 yesterday, winning 200 freestyle in 1:48.55 against 1:49.25, 1:49.47, 1:49.48 and 1:49.89 respectively. Dig how the commentator doesn’t mention him until after 125 meters. Full results here.