Keri-Anne Payne retained the world 10K crown at the Shanghai 2011 world championships today, becoming the first British athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games in London 2012. She led from the start until the third of four 2.5 km circuits, before being overtaken for a while by Australia’s Melissa Gorman, and then deciding it with at strong kick at the end. Via SwimNews.com, see also www.keriannepayne.co.uk.
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Half-boiled from the hot humidity
So I went out to search for that mall again, that I couldn’t find yesterday, and didn’t find today either. Found other things though, like (incidentally) the Yang Shen Natatorium, before returning two hours later with fingers so swollen, that there was squeaking resistance when I clenched my fists.
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Social networking tough at Shanghai 2011
Australians and Americans write about the difficulties we’re having with keeping up with our social statuses, while inside the Great Firewall of China. Some have found solutions by creating their own virtual private network (VPN) to a server outside of China, while others might have found a loophole using some maybe less restricted internet at the venue. Some join Chinese alternative Weibo, to get some kind of social networking fix.
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Wow, Chinese go swimming despite of really bad algae attack
A huge swath of algae is drifting toward the Chinese city of Qingdao, expecting to blanket its beaches in two days’ time. It is not toxic, but still ravages the ecosystem by suffocating other marine life. This is the third time in five years this has happened, decimating local aquaculture and costing millions of yuan in damages. But some people still swim in it. Via Amusing Planet.
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Lifeguard now also dead after breath-holding exercise gone wrong
21-year-old Jonathan Proce died Sunday morning at the hospital, after having been in critical condition since the incident last Wednesday, when he and also 21-year old Bodhan Vitenko of Manhattan drowned during a breath-holding exercise. They were hoping to join elite military squads, training in a public pool on Staten Island, when lifeguards found them lifeless in 3 feet of water. Proce was a lifeguard himself, but off-duty. Via silive.com.
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Checking out Shanghai 2011 training and competition facilities today
So I went to visit the Yuan Shen Natatorium this morning, which is closer to our hotel than the Oriental Sports Center world championships venue, and therefore a time saver for when Pál needs to train. It was only a 10 minute taxi ride even with what seemed like a traffic jam to me, costing 14 yuan (approximately 2.1 US dollars).
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Swimming is the No. 1 (real) sport in the US, and growing
According to a survey by the National Sporting Goods Association, swimming is the 3rd most popular sport based on participation in the US (not necessarily formal participation on a team). An estimated 51,900,000 people age 7 and up participated in swimming during 2010, an increase of 3.4% since 2008. Via Kast-A-Way Swimwear.
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James Magnussen to compete despite of pneumonia
Australias sprint comet James Magnussen has lost no confidence going into this month’s world championships despite battling pneumonia, the national head coach Leigh Nugent said yesterday. Read more here on The Sydney Morning Herald.
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So, how is Shanghai ?
Very nice, very nice indeed. A guide was waiting for us at the end of the ramp from the airplane, guiding us via special express-lanes through customs formalities to our luggage, and then straight to the hotel. Here, I was greeted with flowers by the hotel staff, and then met our liaison officer Cora, who had been studying her guests down to the detail where she had drawn the Faroese flag by hand in her notebook, ready to take me to the accreditation office.
