Swimmer's Daily | Fast Fix Blog About Swimming

USA Today projects Friis to win 800 free at London 2012

Mar 29, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

USA Today has this interesting “Olympic Medal Tracker” on their site, where they use an algorithm to project the winners in each medal event for the 2012 London Olympics, based on an athlete’s results in events such as world championships and World Cup. With emphasis that it doesn’t predict how the medals will play out in 2012, but only which athletes are strong now. Anyway, the projection is that USA will top the overall medal count with 88 medals ahead of China’s 84, and that swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are projected to be among the USA’s big winners, if current form holds.

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The French Federation will not budge on Bousquet

Mar 29, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

Christian DonzÃ©, tecnical director of French Swimming tells L’Equipe today that while he has no problem with Bousquet working with Brett Hawke in Shanghai, should the Australian gain accreditation through another nation, there will be no accreditation with France, even if that means Bousquet boycotting Shanghai or even quitting the sport. “If he quit that would hurt the team but the main victim would be Fred himself. I hope that reason will prevail.” Read more here on SwimNews.com

FrÃ©dÃ©rick Bousquet at the Rijeka 2008 ESSC
Get set for some fast swimming

Mar 29, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition
With British and French trials for World Championships behind us, the world rankings are taking shape. But watch them transform in the month ahead, as April brings a rush of competition, as listed here on SwimNews.com (with some addition of my own).
- March 30 – April 3: Canada Senior Nationals / World Trials
- March 31 – April 3: Spanish Open
- March 31 – April 3: Danish Open
- April 1 – April 8: Australian Swimming Championships
- April 3 – April 8: New Zealand Open Championships
- April 7 – April 10: Swim Cup Eindhoven
- April 8 – April 10: Erik Namesnik Michigan Grand Prix
- April 11 – April 16: South Africa National Championships
- April 13 – April 17: Italian Spring Nationals
Slow-Mo Surfing Shot with a Canon 7D

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Fun

Yes, I know that this is a swimming blog, but Duke Kahanamoko was a swimmer/surfer, so I’m allowed. Now back to the video. Sweet. Via PetaPixel.
Will Shanghai 2011 be a doping risk for athletes?

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

Interesting column here on SwimmingWorld Magazine, about the danger of inadvertent doping from contaminated food in China. Prior to the Beijing Games in 2008, the risks were know to be significant, and food control therefore strict in the Olympic village. The same risks exist today, but there will be no Olympic-type village at the World Championships in Shanghai. Is FINA taking any precautions, asks the columnist.
Ä½uboÅ¡ KriÅ¾ko busted for doping with cancer medicine

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Health

Slovakian sprinter Ä½uboÅ¡ KriÅ¾ko has been banned for two years by FINA, after testing positive for a metabolite of Tamoxifen at the European championships in Budapest on August 12, 2010. Tamoxifen is the standard anti-estrogen therapy used to treat breast cancer patients, but is also used in doping to control the side effects of taking steroids. Read SwimNews.com.
This is why they call them Killer Whales

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Nature

A pack of orcas hunting a seal really close to shore in OyndarfjÃ¸rÃ°ur on the island Eysturoy where I live, yesterday. Difficult to see, but the seal eventually manages to escape, by hiding between the rocks and seaweed straight under the video photographer’s feet. We call them ‘bÃ³ghvÃtuhvalur’ because of their white belly, or ‘mastrarhvalur’ because of the large dorsal fin resembling a mast.
We need a World Water Bombing Association !

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Fun

WesternLeader brought this story last Friday, about some local event called the World Bombing Championships in Henderson, New Zealand, yesterday. They want it to become a regional event next year, and then maybe turn it into a world competition. But but, researching this a bit, I find that there already was a UK / World Water Bombing Championships organized in Sheffield in at least 2010 and 2007, and a Splashdiving World Championships organized in Germany in 2010. This is exactly the reason why we need a central organization, to prevent this noble sport from degenerating into something silly :-)
Frederick Bousquet threatens to boycott Shanghai

Mar 28, 2011

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by

rokur

in Competition

FrÃ©dÃ©rick Bousquet has placed himself on a collision course with the French federation by threatening to boycott Shanghai world titles if his coach at Auburn, Brett Hawke, is not on the deck in China as part of the France contingent.Â Read more here on SwimNews.com.

FrÃ©dÃ©rick Bousquet at the Rijeka 2008 European Short Course Championships