Swimmer's Daily

  • The Safer Seas Service (SSS) is an innovative mobile app providing real-time water quality information directly to the palm of your hand. It allows surfers, swimmers, and all water users to find beaches with the best water quality, to avoid pollution and the associated health risks. The app provides vital public health information and allows users to take action to campaign for cleaner seas. Users can email their Member of Parliament when there is a sewage spill at a beach in their constituency, calling for action to be taken to end sewage pollution. Health reports can be submitted to SAS to track health risk hot spots. Covering over 370 bathing waters across the UK with over 31,000+ users, the app has issued 898,300 notifications since its launch in 2019 with 3000+ emails sent to a total of 93 MPs demanding better water quality to keep us safe when using the sea.

  • Myanmar swimmer Win Htet Oo has gone public with his intentions to forgo qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in what he describes as a form of protest against the “military dictatorship” in his homeland. The athlete now based in Australia had previously written to the International Olympic Committee asking to compete as a neutral athlete, but that request was denied. Since he has rejected competing under the leadership of the Myanmar Olympic Committee, Win Htet Oo forgoes any chance of qualifying. The SCMP’s Patrick Blennerhassett spoke with the swimmer about why he has given up the Olympic dream he has worked on for many years.

  • The organization is looking for volunteers to help young kids with disabilities learn how to swim and stay safe in the water. https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/new…

  • Dave Zirin tells us why the Olympics are just the worst. Sam Seder and the Majority Report crew discuss this.

  • World record holder Caeleb Dressel claimed the men’s 200m freestyle at the 2021 TYR Pro Series at Mission Viejo – going 1:47.57 to touch first ahead of the highest-ranked American, Andrew Seliskar. The time was just over two-tenths behind his personal best in the event.

    “It was a great field,” Dressel said after his swim. “I was excited to swim against this super-stacked field, it was a good representative of how Trials is going to be. I was happy to get my hand on the wall first, but this (meet) is mainly just about racing.”

    Cal Aquatics’ Andrew Seliskar finished second with Gator Swim Club’s Khader Baqlah rounding out the top three.

  • The Best Documentary Feature gong for My Octopus Teacher at this year’s Academy Awards has been seen by many critics as the type of underdog story Oscar loves. The film, directed by Pippa Erlich and James Reed, was—like the other South African-themed documentary to wow the Oscars, Searching for Sugarman—the feel-good choice.

    The story of a man and his relationship with an octopus in the cold, cold water off Cape Town’s peninsula triumphed over a number of heavy hitters. These included an exposé of hospital deaths caused by corruption in the Romanian government (Collective) and the Obama-produced story of the battle for disability rights in the US (Crip Camp).

    So what carried the underdog to victory? And what does this mean for film-making in South Africa? Will this sensational viral hit spawn “a trail of comparable works in its wake?”

    The answer to why it won lies in a series of interconnected factors: the power of Netflix, the zeitgeist of the global Covid-19 lockdown, the Academy’s idiosyncratic nature when it comes to voting, and the power of a well-made film with a simple and life-affirming story.

    The answer to what impact it will have is more complicated: we think it could lead to wonderfully positive outcomes. But only if marginalized South Africans have agency and power in front of and behind the cameras.

    Read Quartz Africa

  • The Italian freediver Cristina Francone has set two new freediving world records of the World Confederation of Underwater Activities (CMAS), during the weekend of May 1 and 2, in the competition endorsed by the Italian Federation of Sport Fishing and Underwater Activities (FIPSAS) called “Sardinia Cup” held in Cagliari.

    Dynamic World Record with Monofin
    On Saturday, May 1, Cristina made an impressive record of 261.40 meters (time 2min 58sec) in the dynamic apnea with monofin in a 50-meter pool, surpassing the previous world record of the Italian Alessia Zecchini of 253 meters in June 2019 in Turkey.

    Dynamic World Record with Bifins
    Later, on Sunday, May 2, Francone achieved his second world record, this time in the dynamic modality with bifins, also in a 50-meter pool, by completing a distance of 231.85 meters (3min 02 sec) surpassing the 230, 05 meters performed by the Croatian Mirela Kardašević at the end of March of this year 2021.

    Read Sportalsub.net