Despite of having less than 50,000 inhabitants, it is a common saying here in the Faroe Islands, that you’ll find Faroese where ever you go. Like here at the Dubai 2010 World Short Course Swimming Championships, where we got to meet two Faroese families living there, and where that fair-haired boy with the #1 finger had even swum in the brand new competition pool before Pál.
That boy’s got an outboard motor for legs, splits 34.23 – 37.40 – 38.09 – 37.14 – 36.87 – 37.57 – 37.87 – 37.68 = 4:56.88 (pffft, no kick in the end ;-). Norway’s Gard Kvale predicts him to be 2nd behind Vanderkaay in the 400 freestyle at the US Trials.
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/GardKvale/status/178333755969249280″]
Really nice video here, it seems from the Copa Pura Vida meet in Pichilemu, Chile. Those starting blocks are hard-core !
On this 7th day of British Trials, Rebecca Adlington clocked a 8:18.54 in the 800 freestyle, Olympic qualifying and faster than anyone ever but Janet Evans, Lotte Friis, Kate Ziegler and herself. Eleanor Faulkner also managed to qualify in the 800 freestyle, with a time of 8:27.11, commenting “Becky [Adlington] is my role model and I’m just trying to keep up with her”. Elizabeth Simmonds qualified in the 200 backstroke with a 2:08.67, and Michael Rock in the 100 butterfly with a 52.02. Read for instance SwimmingWorld Magazine.
Australia head coach Leigh Nugent predicted on Friday that multiple Olympic champion Ian Thorpe would stun the swimming world by qualifying for the London Games next week. Eamon Sullivan doesn’t think Thorpe should be given a go on the Olympic team if he doesn’t qualify. Thorpe himself says he hasn’t been foxing, but has been ‘training the house down’. Huegill is unsure if it is enough, thinks he might have left it too late. Trickett says critics are judging Thorpe too harshly, asks people to give him a break.
Olympian Michael Phelps gets his head in the right place with Head & Shoulders Active Sport for Men. Via Michael Phelps on Facebook.
On Delta Flight 1641 from San Antonio to Atlanta on March 8th, there were two “special guests” flying First Class, Pete & Penny Penguin from Sea World. Actually quite logical when you think about it, as they couldn’t possibly fly themselves. Via BuzzFeed
Brilliant (but sad) read here on the Telegraph, on those Brits who didn’t qualify for the Olympics, and had “to trudge past the cameras and their celebrating colleagues and, still wet from the pool, try to articulate their disappointment in a strip-lit interview area in the bowels of the Aquatic centre”. And the harsh reality that awaits. Via Speed Endurance on Twitter.
After missing out in the same event Richard Webb, who won the 100m breaststroke last year and competed in the World Championships in 2009, revealed the cost of failing to qualify.
“I’ve not been on funding now for six months. I’ve been living off savings and I’m pretty much bankrupt so I’ll probably quit now,” said Webb. “I’ve driven myself into the ground living off credit cards and overdrafts and I can’t really afford to continue. If you look at the depth in this event in the sport there isn’t really space for me on the team any more. So I just have to move on.”
A photo from the Stockholm leg of the 2010 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup circuit. Sign says (in Swedish) “Max 5 personer pÃ¥ bryggan!”, which in English translates directly to “Max 5 persons on the bridge!”. Problem only that many of these didn’t really read Swedish, maybe didn’t care that much if they got wet, and were not just ‘persons’ but ‘coaches’ (as in often at least 0,1 tonne of weight). Oh well, the bridge held up fine :-)
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