Synchronized swimming, the sport has gained real popularity in the world of their watershed. A Hollywood film actress played a role in promoting it. Esther Williams, who was an American freestyle champion, later made synchronized swimming really well-known and popular as a movie star. She made his first performance at the World’s Fair in San Francisco in 1940, and then introduced the sport to the general public in their water show and water musicals (her first such performance in 1944).
Dangerous debris and mountains of foam continue to wash up on the Gold Coast’s scarred beaches. While still too dangerous for swimmers conditions have eased and the clean up is already underway for the busiest time of the year.
Estonians braved the dark and cold waters of the Baltic Sea on Friday (December 11) to set a new world record for the largest winter swimming relay, according to event organisers. Five hundred and five people took part in the challenge, which lasted for nearly five hours and covered a total distance of 12.6 kilometres, with each participant swimming 25 meters. Everyone was welcome – the youngest participant was 9-years-old and the oldest one was over 80. The event was hosted at the former Imperial Russia’s submarine shipyard, in an open-water pool, where the water temperature was around 4 degrees Celsius. Swimmers later relaxed in a hot tube and a mobile sauna. According to organisers, the previous world record was set in Finland by 250 swimmers. Winter swimming, believed to boost the immune system and delay onset of dementia, is becoming increasingly popular in the Baltic and Nordic countries. Organisers estimate that number of winter swimmers in Estonia has tripled this year.
Even in winter temperatures of about 15 degrees Celsius (60F), a steady flow of hardy men and women wade into the brown waters of the Yangtze River in Wuhan and swim into the distance. The tradition pre-dates Mao, but it was embedded in Wuhan’s consciousness in 1966 when the then-73-year-old founder of communist China launched a political comeback with a carefully staged swim to prove he was in robust health. All that stopped when the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan about a year ago. The city of 11 million people was placed into a strict lockdown in January that dragged on for 76 days. Now, the daily swimmers are back.
Recco survives a tough test against Marseille
The opening day almost produced the first upset as Marseille was on equal terms with Italian giant Pro Recco but the 8-times winner staged a great finish to clinch all three points. 2018 winner Olympiacos also struggled against Ortigia but secured a fine win while 2016 champion Jug demolished Spandau within two periods.
(more…)Cody Simpson is one step closer to the Olympics.
On Saturday, the 23-year-old Australian singer — who is also an avid swimmer — revealed that he had qualified for his first Olympic trials.
“I’d love to share this personal milestone and let you in on my current journey as an athlete that I’ve kept relatively low key until now,” he wrote on Instagram alongside a triumphant pool-side photo.
Although Simpson was dedicated to swimming as a young child — even winning two gold medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships when he was 13 — he said his career was cut short “when I was given an opportunity in music that I couldn’t refuse.”
“I have had the chance to experience and learn so much as a musician from touring around the world, releasing albums, performing as a leading man on Broadway, publishing a work of poetry, traveling with and speaking at the United Nations on environmental and oceanic matters and much more. For this I will be forever grateful,” he wrote. “Now almost exactly 10 years later, here I am once more.”
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Chinese Female Diver Fu Mingxia won the platform-diving world championship in 1991 at the age of 12, making her the youngest diving champ of all time. She is also famous for being one of the youngest Olympic diving champions, having earned gold at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona when she was just 13 years and 345 days old. Throughout the 1990s, Fu dominated the sport with her repertoire of extremely difficult dives.
An ice hole was carved into the frozen Irtysh River for brave locals to take a dip on the opening day of the winter swimming season in Omsk, Russia
