Swimmer's Daily

  • Hideaki Akaiwa

    The Los Angeles Times brings this incredible story about 43-year-old Hideaki Akaiwa, who couldn’t wait for rescue workers when large parts of his hometown of Ishinomaki were turned into a lake by the tsunami, but donned a wetsuit and went looking for his wife himself. He managed to find their house in all the debris, saved her and then later also his mother, who then had been stuck on the second floor of a flooded house for four days. Lugging a fanny pack including green tea, water, a flashlight, work gloves, a Swiss Army-style knife and a change of clothes, he still searches for survivors. Via neatorama.com.

  • According to The Independent, phones are unwelcome at the London 2012 Olympics, “as they may disturb the action, along with banners, horn, whistles, drums, rattles and musical instruments”. The ban is mentioned as security measures produced by the Games organisers, included in a “non-exhaustive” list of banned and restricted items in the terms and conditions of booking Olympic tickets, including picnics, liquids in containers bigger than 100ml, camera tripods, umbrellas and flags of countries not involved in the Games. The rules also aim to safeguard the official sponsrs of the Games from “objects bearing trademarks or other kinds of promotional signs or message (such as hats, T-shirts, bags, etc) which Locog (the London 2012 organisers) believes are for promotional purposes”. Via goldmedalmel.typepad.com.

  • Exciting stuff here on usaswimming.org, where USA swimming is looking for the next great America’s Swim Team video: The best 30-second video that demonstrates what being a part of America’s Swim Team means to you, with deadline April 9, 2011. There is also this great video where Ryan Lochte surprises America’s Swim Team teammates at Rose Bowl Aquatics, competes and gives advices of which my favorites are “listen to your coach” and “have fun”.

  • Heart wrenching story here in the New York Times, about how a whole swim team and their coach were lost to the tsunami, when walking a half-mile to practice at the nearly new natatorium in Rikuzentakata. But they are not the only ones: in this town of 23,000, more than one in 10 people is either dead or has not been seen since that afternoon, now 10 days ago, when a tsunami flattened three-quarters of the city in minutes. Via scaq.blogspot.com.

  • Championnats de France de natation

    SwimNews.com describes the upcoming French nationals and World championship trials as “a firepower in men’s freestyle events that is hard to find just about anywhere else in the world”, with Alain Bernard, Amaury Leveaux, Fred Bousquet, Fabien Gilot, William Meynard and Yannick Agnel in the short to middle distances, and Sebastien Rouault, Anthony Pannier, Xavier Leprete and Mads Glæsner in the longer distances.

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  • Interesting detail about Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, 33-year-old World Cup winner 2010 and Dubai 2010 World champion in the 50 butterfly. Source SwimNews.com:

    “I lived in London for a number of years, so it’s like my second home. I really, really like the city so it would be nice to have a little bit of ‘homeground’ advantage,” said the swimmer who had “Diva” tattoed on her lower back to remind her to work hard. She explained: “When I was a bit younger I was a bit of a diva, because I didn’t train so hard and didn’t put in the effort. I made the tattoo to remind me that my previous ways weren’t so efficient and successful, and also as a tribute to women.”

    Alshammar at the Stockholm 2010 World Cup

  • 17-year-old David Nolan set two individual USA high school and age group (17-18) records during the PIAA Swimming Championships this weekend, improving upon his own 200 yards medley record from 1:43.43 last year to 1:41.39 now, and swimming 45.49 in the 100 yard backstroke, where the age group record was 46.11 and the high school record 46.75. The 200 medley records is the 8th best time at all, with only NCAA swimmers like Ryan Lochte (1:40.08), Bradley Alley (1:40.49) and Michael Phelps (1:40.58) bettering him. Source: simma.nu/no.

  • Norway’s Olympic silver medalist Alexander Dale Oen underwent a nose operation recently, in order to hopefully be freed of the 4 to 6 weeks that he usually struggles with the common cold, or at least be able to train better through these weeks. “I can of course train when I have the cold, but it is not optimal for restitution or hard workouts”, says the norwegian breaststroker. See text and video on nrk.no. Via www.simma.nu/no.

  • Recommended by none other than Jessica Hardy, this game called “Sheep Dash” on bbc.co.uk/science is a must do for every serious swimmer out there.  As a native inhabitant of the ‘sheep islands’ (Faroe Islands), I guess my proud 0.1994 average reaction time is next to impossible to beat.

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