Norway’s Olympic silver medalist Alexander Dale Oen underwent a nose operation recently, in order to hopefully be freed of the 4 to 6 weeks that he usually struggles with the common cold, or at least be able to train better through these weeks. “I can of course train when I have the cold, but it is not optimal for restitution or hard workouts”, says the norwegian breaststroker. See text and video on nrk.no. Via www.simma.nu/no.
Recommended by none other than Jessica Hardy, this game called “Sheep Dash” on bbc.co.uk/science is a must do for every serious swimmer out there. As a native inhabitant of the ‘sheep islands’ (Faroe Islands), I guess my proud 0.1994 average reaction time is next to impossible to beat.
The Danish Open 2011 start list is ready, promising quite a few high quality races, especially in the long distance events. In the women’s 1500 freestyle, we have Norway’s Elin Slaatmo trying to take on European champion and World silver medalist Lotte Friis, and in the men’s 1500 freestyle, Faroe Islands’ European silver medalist Pál Joensen will have yet another bout with Denmark’s World short course silver medalist Mads Glæsner.
University of Houston head coach Mark Taylor passed away late Friday evening of an apparent heart attack in Austin, Texas. His wife, Lorrain, and his two sons, Troy and Zane, survive Taylor, 50. Taylor had just completed his ninth season as head coach for the Houston swimming team. Before that, he coached teams in Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania and Great Britain, including Louise Ørnstedt who placed fourth in the 100 backstroke at the World Short Course Championships in Moscow in April 2002. Read SwimmingWorld Magazine.
Michigan Wolverines testing their kick speed here at the Donald B. Catham Natatorium. Wu Peng 28.0, Mark Patton 28.8. Nice.
Per Stig Møller Culture Minister of Denmark is to put pressure on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), to clear up its rules on the possibility of clenbuterol traces from contaminated food in doping tests.
Middlebury College has suspended for the rest of the season all of its female swimming and dive team members except for the freshmen in a tough response to the latest report of hazing on the Vermont college’s campus. Little is known about what happened in early February at a swim team party, but the school newspaper the Middlebury Campus reported that the party “crossed the line from innocent initiation to hazing.” (more…)
British Swimming today announced a four year rights deal with the BBC to broadcast swimming and other aquatic sports in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, the Commonwealth Games 2014 and beyond. Also, they partner to launch the Big Splash, a UK-wide mass-participation campaign, to get people in the pool.
