Swimmer's Daily

  • Scary stuff, researchers for the online journal Pediatrics report nearly 40 percent of the 209 children who drowned from 2001 to 2009 in the USA did so in small, inflatable “kiddie pools”. The majority (94%) involved children younger than 5 years, 73% occurred in the child’s own yard and 81% occurred during the summer months.

    “Because portable pools are generally small, inexpensive and easy to use, parents often do not think about the potential dangers these pools present,” said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, senior author of the study

    Drowning study prompts urgency for swim lessons: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

    Via myfoxtampabay.com, ABC News (with another video), NY Daily News (with another video), CNN (with another video)

  • How can this not be swimming relevant? Go straight to photojojo.com and see the 15 tips: Shoot in safe waters, have enough light, stay at the surface, get close, get acrobatic, make bubbles, bring in props, practice your shot before you take it, wear light clothing, shoot up or across, and 5 more.

    Underwater Babe Bebe Pham

    (A relevant and quite brilliant photo, me thinks, courtesy of Mick Gleissner)

  • Children drownings nearly doubled in Canada last year, according to figures released by the Lifesaving Society. Most concerning was the spike in drownings of children under five, says spokeswoman Barbara Byers, stressing that people aren’t getting the message about water safety.

    “People just don’t realize the risk or the power of the water,” said Byers. “Some people don’t realize they need swimming survival skills.”

    In Ontario, most toddler drownings were in backyard pools, Byers said, adding toddlers have an almost “magnetic attraction” to the water.

    “They’re not fearful of the water, and if there’s a chance to get there, and especially if a young toddler is looking out a window and seeing a glistening pool or a lake, they’re going to want to get there.”

    So the society has produced a video, demonstrating the 3 simple “Swim to Survive” skills – roll into deep water, tread water for one minute and then swim 50 metres. Canadians need those skills to survive a fall into deep water, the society says, which I guess we can freely copy around the world.

    Via ctv.ca

  • Even though Song Hong-seon, researcher at the Korea Institute of Sport Science according to dongA says that “in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, the winner will be determined by a competition of strategies”, it sounds to me like both Park Tae-hwan and Sun Yang are preparing an all-out sprint from the get-go.

    Analysts say that having judged he failed to properly cope with Park’s early spurt, Sun will have undergone ample training stressing aggressiveness and cut his 50-meter lap time from the very beginning. As a result, he has seen his times rapidly improve in recent months thanks to these training sessions.

    In other Korean news, Park’s manager says that he is adding the 100 freestyle to his usual repertoire of the 200 and 400 freestyle, at the Shanghai World Championships. This is buoyed by his recent run in the 100, where he at Santa Clara International 2011 edged Michael Phelps himself to take the 100 meter crown at 48.92 seconds.

  • It is tough to be a breaststroker, but even tougher to be hit by their kicks. My recommendation is to stay clear and wait, as they will tire soon :-) *ducking*

  • This directly off her own website, www.hinkelienschreuder.nl

    No Shanghai World Championships

    In preparation for the World Championships in July, discussion about the cooperation between me and my trainer arise. The confidence in this partnership was terminated by him as of today.

    Only this, gives the technical director reason to doubt my potential performance in Shanghai. He has informed me about the fact that he, for sure, will not let me swim in the heats of the 4x100m freestyle relay.

    I would have liked to have the opportunity to swim in Shanghai and show what I was intended to do: to deliver a top performance there. Unfortunately the decision of the technical director means that I don`t even get the opportunity to swim at all.

    I have always been fully committed to the success of this preparation and that of the World Championships. To me it is unbelievable that these decisions can be taken at this time in preparation.

    In the next couple of weeks I will take time to think about the way I will continue my swimming career.

    Hinkelien

  • I sort of pulled the plug myself, deleting another site that turned out to be connected to this one. Dreamhost support to the rescue :-S

    8/365 - My first fail

  • These guys can’t be serious ! :-)