Sir, no running around the pool with a gun in your hand!

Even the President of United States has to follow the pool rules!

The Vendeé Globe makes the Ironman look like a "10k-run" - An English channel swim look like a "swim workout" and a marathon as difficult as a beginners "yoga class!"

The world record in the Vendeé Globe was soundly beaten today. The first contestant to cross the finish line took only 78-days, 16-hours to finish. More will be coming in this week.

What is the Vendeé Globe and what makes it so tough?

From Wikipedia:

The Vendée Globe is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed non-stop and without assistance.[1] The race was founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, and since 1992 has taken place every four years. The 2012-2013 edition started Saturday, November 10, 2012

Go to  the Vendeé Globe website for a real look at what it is. There is lots of media and photos and it does a great job explaining how arduous and challenging this race is.

One can call it the greatest open water race of all. Solo competitors, obviously without a crew, sail a racing yacht from France down to the Cape of Good Hope or more acurately, Cape Agulhas. Next, they sail through the roaring forties and the furious fifties where they then make left-hand turn at Cape Horn, that place where the Pacific ocean and Atlantic ocean settle their "arguments." Many a sailor show got between them while they were settling their differences did not fair to well. Finally they sail back to France or more accurately hopefully they make it back to France.

The word record is 84-days. Today that record was broken by Frenchman, Francois Gabart. More evidence that France, Australia, New Zealand produce the best sailors in the world.  Sigh, If only the United States would step up. I suppose sailing is just another area of expertise that we are failing behind in.

From The BBC:

"... Samantha Davies, the third British entrant in this edition of the event, saw her race ended on day five by a broken mast. 

Of the 20 boats that set off on 10 November, only 12 remained on Sunday after a course that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand and Cape Horn before navigating back up the Atlantic Ocean to France. 

French sailors have won every Vendee Globe since the first edition in 1989/90 when Titouan Lamazou was the winner in 109 days. ..."

[Link]

Mark Schubert over promised Kate Ziegler and Dagny Knudsen but USA Swimming had to pay!

Click on the above scans to read them...

If these scanned letters are correct then Mark Schubert not only threw Ariana Kukors "under the bus" but Dagny Knudson and Kate Ziegler as well, but unlike Arianna, Dagny and Kate make USA Swimming take responsibility for Mark Schubert's actions.

Here's how: Dagny and Kate got a lawyer named Richard Foster to go to USA Swimming and say, "Hey, your boy Mark Schubert made promises to us he didn't keep and now you got to pay because he was speaking for you!" Quietly, and I suspect with complete exasperation that Schubert over promised, USA Swimming paid up.

Attorney Richard Foster, pops up again but this time he is defending Mark Schubert in his wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Dia Rianda! There is a load of ... err... irony her!

This suggests to my wild imagination that Foster is checking his "soul" at the door when he takes on a new client for how can you represent your client as a "devil" one day and then the next as a "saint?"

Here is a guy that went to USA Swimming criticizing what Schubert did to Dagny and Kate; (over promising tuition and such), but now he is defending the same guy stating that he did not over promise Dia Rianda.

More on Mark Schubert spying on Sean Hutchison and Arriana Kukors

In a wrongful termination suit filed by Dia Rianda against Mark Schubert and the Golden West Swim Club (GWSC), both Mark Schubert and Bill Jewell; (executive coaches for GWSC), were forced to tell the truth under oath their involvement in what I believe is a serious invasion of Sean Hutchison and Arriana Kukors' privacy.

Back in the day when Schubert was still USA Swimming's National team coach making hundreds-of thousands-of-dollars-a-year, Schubert organized a swim program near his home in Ranchos Palos Verdes called thee Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST).

Bill Jewell was hired as a lead coach at FAST and later brought in to the GWSC by Schubert. When the program closed it's doors many swimmers were "thrown under the bus" and to their credit never complained openly. As for Arriana Kukors, she was thrown under a "tank" and she probably lost economic opportunities as a result.

One has to asked why Mark Schubert was involved in hiring a paid detective to spy on Sean Hutchison and Arriana Kukors?  Both were adults, both nationally recognized as a coach and a swimmer respectively yet what could these two have been doing to justify thousands-of-dollars in detective fees to fine out?

Well, in 2010 Sean Huthison resigned from his duties at the FAST and soon he disappeared. However much drama ensued before it happened!

For more drama info see this post: [Link]

I suspect the motives on Bill Jewel and Mark Schubert's part were sinister in nature and these two people should be shamed big timed. I think it would be both truly poetic and ironic if Sean Hutchison and Arianna Kukors hired the same attorney that Dia Rianda is using to recoup their lost reputations and rehabilitate their good names.

From the Orange County Register:

Schubert said in his deposition that he was involved in hiring a private investigator to follow Hutchison, according to the letter to USA Swimming. Schubert said at least one photograph taken by the investigator and shown to him by his wife depicted the cars of Hutchison and Ariana Kukors, then 21 and a 2009 world champion swimmer who trained under Hutchison at the USA Swimming/FAST training group, parked close to each other outside Hutchison's apartment around 5 a.m. Schubert's wife works for a private investigation firm. 

[Link]

Mark Schubert essentially tried to tear down Sean Hutchison and Ariana Kukors!

Mark Schubert & Bill Jewell essentially tried to tear Sean Hutchison to pieces and Ariana Kukors was simply going to be nothing short of collateral damage.

Both Kukors and Hutchison should be quite cross about that too. I stand by that statement and so does Irv Muchnik who printed the following:

From Concussion Inc:

"... The acknowledgment by Schubert that he gave the name of a private investigator to Bill Jewell, who at the time was CEO of FAST, and that the Jewell-hired investigator proceeded to follow Hutchison and Kukors, emerged in a deposition by Schubert in a lawsuit against him and his Huntington Beach-based Golden West Swim Club by Dia Rianda, a coach and major USA Swimming fundraiser and philanthropist. ..." 

[Link]

I will spell it out further... The PI actually found himself at Hutchison's address at 5:00 AM and began snapped a photo of their automobiles parked near each other. What other photos did he take and then ask yourself this, why was a detective there at 5:00 AM? Was he there all night?

Now, Ariana Kukors who is and was an adult at the time of this fiasco now has her tied to this whole mess or more accurately her name forever tied to scandal.

Finally this line really struck me right between the eyes: "...The acknowledgment by Schubert that he gave the name of a private investigator to Bill Jewell. ..." So, Mark Schubert actually knows and can recommend a private detective that can follow people and take photos of their cars;  (or otherwise) at 5:00 AM?

Disgraceful!

Deformed dolphin accepted into a large pod of sperm whales

The dolphin obviously rejected by his/her former pod  is adopted by a pod of sperm whales. What is touching about this video is that these mammals display affection for one another which to me declares signs of compassion, intelligence and emotion.

From the Atlantic:

In 2011, the behavioral ecologists Alexander Wilson and Jens Krause set out to observe sperm whales off the island of Pico, in the Azores. But as they began their research, they saw something unexpected: a dolphin -- adult, male, bottlenose -- hanging out with the pod of larger, flat-nosed cetaceans. And not just swimming with them ... but rubbing against them and nuzzling up to them and generally making very, very friendly with the much larger mammals. Who tolerated -- and in some cases reciprocated -- the apparent affection. "It really looked like they had accepted the dolphin for whatever reason," Wilson told Science magazine. " 

[Link]

New Swim Drill: Wet folding with a snorkel

Origami underwater - Some of the best origamis are wet-folded

Live from Golgotha: The Crucifixion of Lance Armstrong is still under way.

The cross is on the ground and the Roman executioners are readying the nails and hammer. Roman soldiers have been taunting Armstrong shouting phrases like "doper, doper, doper." 

Quietly, one Roman Centurion named, O. Winprey, has been rumored to have offered Armstrong "wine and gall" or a mixture of sour wine and a poison so as to put him out of his misery and offer him safe passage once he is nailed to the cross. Armstorng declined the drink.

Being crucified next to Armstrong are two thieves. On the left of Armstrong  who the spectators are calling the "good thief"  is Tiger Woods. To the right side of  him are what most in the audience are calling the "bad thief" who is known as O.J. Simpson.

We spoke with a woman named Mary who refuses to give out her last name due to privacy issues and/or reprisals. She had the following statement:

"How come we don't hold our Roman politicians to same standards that we do our athletes and by that I mean all the lying, stealing and cheating? 

Why is it that we allow the Roman Department of Justice to push a Jewish programmer to suicide with aggressive intimidation tactics yet not one Wall Street banker is prosecuted for giving out bad mortgages so they could resell them to some other sucker later on? Are they "to big too jail?"

Why is it that a Roman Senator can receive bribes to vote either right or left and suffer no consequences? 

Why is it that a Roman Senator can execute insider trades on the Roman stock market whereas the public would go to jail if they did likewise? 

Why is it that Caesar can wiretap our phones, kill, or imprison a citizen without a judge, jury or a lawyer reviewing the charges? 

Why is Armstrong so important and why is he the first one on the list for crucification?

We asked  several participants about the Senate councils or National Sports Bodies but most of those questioned would not answer out of fear of blow back.

Pontius Pilate of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) did return our calls and had this statement:
"...We strongly urge Lance Armstrong to testify to an independent Roman Commission established to investigate the allegations made against the Roman International Cycling Union (UCI). - Let's just see how dirty they are."

Congratulations to Dana Volmer - her photo for ESPN is up for a noted Hasselblad award!

Ric Frazier took a wonderful "fish eye view" of a flip-turn sequence by Dana Volmer for ESPN.

This was a photo we talked about here on the blog. It has now made it into the finals of a prestigious award sponsored by the 'Hasselblad' company. If you enjoyed the photo and you enjoy Dana Volmer's work, go vote here:  [Link]  

Blown Away: 'VESTAS Sailrocket 2' truly destroys world speed sailing record!

Took eleven-years to build and the speed it generated was incomprehensible for a sail boat.

Concussion Inc: A Statement to Michael Phelps and His Mother, From the Mother of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club Sex Assault Victim

In my opinion this is a heart wrenching plea and I am dumb with astonishment as to how slow the investigation of this assault case is going.

The police have interviewed the victim, they have all the back-and-forth emails which include admissions of guilt and knowledge of the events by the coaches at large. They have a third party witness endorsing the victim's point of view and yet the police are moving incredibly slow.

I think this says a lot about Baltimore. It's as if they run their town like the imaginary TV suburb of  "Pleasantville" (see the movie trailer above for a de facto example).

 As for USA Swimming, they are seemingly waiting for the police investigation to run it's course before taking action. I am getting hints from other sources that if nothing comes from the police investigation then USA Swimming will still approach the subject.

Snippet from her statement at Concussion Inc: 

"...I hope that Michael will not be unduly influenced by the NBAC leadership, and will remember that he was bullied and have empathy for my son, who was not only harassed, but assaulted sexually, which to see in print repulses me and has caused my son and our family an abundance of suffering since we first learned of the assault late last February. Not a day has gone by from that day to this, that I do not think about these shameful acts. ..." 

[Link]

Read the rest at Concussion Inc.

Dinosaurs swam laps together - I kid you not!

His hips are high in the water but I am not loving that kick or that breaststroke pull!

 From Live Science: 

"... a group of small dinosaurs trying to escape a massive carnivore, the fossils may reveal an ancient dinosaur "superhighway" or river crossing, said study co-author Anthony Romilio, a paleontologist at the University of Queensland in Australia. .." 

[Link]

Concussion INC: Teammate of NBAC Sex Abuse Victim Confronted Coach Over Continued Harassment — Coach Threatened to Throw Him Off Team!

I originally reported these sexual abuse incidence at NBAC to USA Swimming and subsequently turned everything I knew to journalist Irv Muchnik at Concussion INC. He is a pro and he has sunk his teeth into this like pit bull.

Now it has been confirmed that hate speech was included in some cyber-bullying of the victim by another member of NBAC which included gay slurs and crass insults. This has got end.

I am considering speaking with some associates at GLAAD (Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) since hate speech was involved in the cyber bullying of the victim. This has been directly confirmed by a former NBAC teammate Peyton Bailey.

I am going to wait another week and see what happens.

From Concussion Inc:

"... Three years ago, Bailey was so eager to swim for NBAC that his mother moved with him and his younger brother to the Baltimore area. (His father stayed behind at the family home in Virginia.) But their NBAC experience ended sourly last year.

Peyton said he did not witness the sexual assault incident itself last February. But he was all too familiar with the general pattern of verbal harassment and bullying of a particular 18-year-old teammate in the Challenge program.

After the victim’s two assailants’ team discipline began and ended with writing vague apologies for having suggestively and repeatedly bumped the victim, and stuck fingers into his anus, in the practice pool, the victim took a hiatus from swimming. He returned in March — whereupon lower-level harassment and humiliation resumed without missing a beat. Bailey recalls seeing two other teammates, not the February sexual assailants, taunting the victim loudly and mercilessly, calling him a "faggot" and an "asshole." ..." 

[Link]

SCAQ blog gets offered $80 to create a post about Michael Phelps playing poker! - SCAQ Blogger declines and posts their emails!

As I write this, The Atlantic magazine online, just got spanked HARD after being outed for accepting paid content from the Church of Scientology and then moderating the comments of the article.

The page went down in flames but a quasi-apology has been put in it's place. [Link]

Subsequently I decided to publish an email exchange of a request I got today requesting me to strategically do a post on Michael Phelps that includes the word Olympian and the subject of poker within the post as well.

I get offers for free stuff and/or cash in exchange for posts all the time and I decline them

--

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 3:39 AM,"Name deleted" wrote: 

Hi there,

My name is "Name deleted" of "deleted-interactive.com" - an online marketing agency. I would like to know if you are still open to advertising proposal related to news about Michael Phelps. I would like to discuss with you my idea if you'd be interested. Please let me know.

Have a great day!

Best,

"Name deleted"

--

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 7:12 AM, Tony Austin wrote: 

Hi "Name Deleted",

I will consider it.

Tony

[I was never open to advertising - I claimed I was because I wanted to know what the Michael Phelps story was all about.]

--

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 10:12 PM,"Name deleted" wrote:

Hi Tony,

It's great to hear that! Actually this won't take too much of your time cause I am not referring to a major advertising campaign that involves banners, images and stuff. Our client prefer it to be simple and informative at the same time. One of our reputable clients has an article that talk about the latest news about the olympian Michael Phelps. You can read the whole story here on www.pokerlistings.com/olympian-michael-phelps-plays-10k-poker-tournament-photos-51245

I would like to know if it's possible to include my keyword "Olympian Michael Phelps" linking to my client's article on your future post. A one time payment of 80USD will be sent via paypal if you consider my idea. Let me know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

"Name Deleted"


--

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 11:25 PM, Tony Austin wrote:

Hello "Name Deleted,"

I thank you for the offer but I will decline. For me to accept payment for strategically wording this post and including it on my blog would place me in a situation both ethically and legally to disclose the details of that payment with my readers per Federal Trade Commission laws: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

Consequently I would be selling my credibility for $80.00 which would not only disappoint my thousands of readers but would summarily erase all the good will they have shared with me.

Thank you for the offer, go try SwimSwam.com

Tony

--

Final word: Ironically I would have posted his content for free if I bumped into it on my own. I am glad I did not do such a thing.

We live in a digital world where people we trust are paid to manipulate us. I just deleted 638-trackers using a browser plugin called "Ghostery." Four trackers which were installed in my browser after going to the Speedo.com website. I virtually see no banners or receive website trackers when I surf the web now.

Julian Assange once called Facebook the greatest spy machine ever produced; he is 100% correct. Did you know that many professional organizations on Facebook can buy "friends" wholesale by the thousands so as to make their organization look more credible?

We now live in a world where our friends and trusted sources of news and commentary are paid to manipulate us. It won't happen here.

A Jellyfish piece I made this afternoon among other aquatic related stuff

The first one is a Jellyfish. The second is an oyster's pearl. The final piece are two deep sea fish.

What watch is Michael Phelps wearing? - What watch are you wearing or watch should you wear?

So I see these "post breakup" party photos and article of Michael Phelps in my newsfeed from the British Tabloid, the Daily Mail but the first thing I notice is his watch. My interest was what sort of watch was he wearing? I am not sure but I suspect it is an Omega De Ville, Co-Axial Rattrapante.

For those outside of horological circles a rattrapante chronograph is defined as: a watch featuring the addition of a second hand to measure split times; (or small seconds), but it can be called a split-second chronograph. I prefer the latter phrase for the word, "rattrapante," reads as "rat-trap-ante" to those outside watch circles thereby devaluing the engineering.

The De Ville Rattrapante retails for for $12,700 and it is a very fine watch and definitely a watch to aspire to, however, it's not military grade. For open water swimmers, swimmers on deck, even timers on a swim meet, a $12.50 Casio F91W is more accurate, more durable and is considered "military grade" by the Pentagon.

In fact, if you are local in Afghanistan and the American military sees you wearing one, you are a suspect and may be sent to Guantanamo Bay. I kid you not - here are their names:  [Link]

The De Ville Rattrapante has a mechanical automatic movement and is not a digital watch. There is no battery in this watch. It is a self winding watch that self-winds with your body motion. The gears, springs, and screws are barely measurable to the naked eye which probably drove the designer nearly blind as he calculated each piece and how it related to the others.

Michael Phelps' watch is meant to be an artifact from the industrial age meant to be admired by others and marveled at by the wearer For swimmers on deck a quartz crystal Casio F91W mentioned above provides more accurate timing, sells for 1000-times less and is way more durable. The Casio brand is a watch that police officers, pilots, fire fighters and army personell wear. Those in the army wear the Casio G-Shock as do rappers and hip-hop artists but perfect timing is not the reason why men wear $12,700 watches. That topic is for another blog.

Finally for open water swimmers I recommend the G-Shock G-Rescue: It features day, time, splits, moon phase, tidal graph for your local beach, water resistant to 200m, time zones for 48-cities, and more. The down side? They look profoundly garish and loud. G-Shock specs: [Link]

I don't wear a sports watch yet. I want one with all of the G-Shock specs but with GPS as well. For now I will gladly settle for my Omega Seamaster De Ville Automatic circa 1964.

Natalie Coughlin Bus Shelter poster up for sale on eBay - Is she swimming in coffee?

It boggles my mid how they could make somebody so lovely look so stupid!  They made it look like Beyonce and Beyonce is very good looking woman, Natalie is better.

Graphically speaking she is not centered in the poster, she does not look part of the water and she obviously isn't wet. Just simply a lazy rendition of an Olympian!

I wanted to buy but it is just too hard to at when you know what she really looks like and you know a sophomore in a junior college art program can build a better poster.

[Link]

"They see me rollin' - they hatin'..." - Audi will equip the IOC’s "fleet" in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The cheapest Audi they sell in America is nearly $35,000. The average price for an Audi is $50,000. The most expensive is $210,000. That care is the R8 GT Spyder.

So, how "gangsta" is that? I guess pimping athletes to multinationals and media conglomerates has garnered the International Olympic Committee some really sweet rides for their "fleet."

I can hear Jacques Rogge now as he swaggers towards his Swiss Blond secretary:

"... Hey baby, let's take the R8 GT Spyder to Cafe de Grancy. I am in the mood for their smoked duck breast and foie gras. Let's talk about business so we can use the company gold card... Let's take the silver one, the red one is just too... garish, don't you think?"

From Olympic.org:

Audi will equip the IOC’s fleet in Lausanne and various international IOC events, such as the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, with a range of vehicles. The agreement also includes plans to jointly develop environmental, humanitarian and social projects.

"The IOC is delighted to have Audi, a world renowned company, as its official automobile supplier, and we look forward to developing further social responsibility initiatives with them in the near future as part of this agreement," said IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper.

[Link]

Dolphin Stampede down in Orange County captured on video!

Happened to me once surfing at Staircase which is a break just south of County Line and it was terrifying. I thought I was going get slammed hard and often.

Three bids have been submitted to the IOC for the 2020 Olympics!

In my opinion the IOC was very generous in awarding the 2016 games to Brazil.  With a 2.4-trillion-dollar economy Brazil has the potential to host a successful Olympic games but still the IOC has taken a bit of a risk on Rio.

The venues are behind schedule and both scandal and protest are nipping at their heels. Hence, I feel the 2020 Olympic Games should be held in a country with a robust economy and proven infrastructure.

The competing host cities, Istanbul, Turkey and Madrid, Spain are very fine countries but I am not impressed with size of their economies. Hosting the Olympic games is expensive. Though Turkey is an emerging nation it Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is still half that of Mexico. Spain which has a more affluent economy than Turkey has a GDP that is five-times smaller than the GDP of Japan.

I believe an established nation or a nation with the creativity and the economic wherewithal to host these games should receive the honor. I hope they choose Tokyo, Japan.

From France 24:

Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo will all be sending high profile delegations to hand over their dossiers which have been painstakingly put together and will be hoping the details meet with the approval of the majority of the 100 plus IOC members when they vote in eight months' time.

With IOC members visits a thing of the past, since the reforms brought in following the Salt Lake City bribes for votes scandal, the dossier will be carefully studied before the all-important visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission, headed by IOC Vice-president Craig Reedie, to the three cities for four day visits in March.

[Link]

Japanese sushi chain Kiyomura paid a record $1.76 million for a single bluefin tuna at an auction in Tokyo on Friday

Bluefin tuna populations are dwindling and while the Japanese eat 80% of the blue fin tuna caught the United States and Europe are catching on.

Environmentalists are requesting stricter ocean laws of bluefin harvesting but who is going to enforce them? Worst of all the bluefin could be just another natural resource that could lead to hostilities between Japan and China:

This snippet from Quartz, a site I read twice a day for I fine it better than the Wall Street Journal and contains more analysis:

Kimura’s Kiyomura ultimately outbid a rival sushi chain, Itamae Sushi Japan, which is owned by Taste of Japan Group, based in Hong Kong. Itamae said its highest bid for the tuna was 151 million yen. The Tokyo-Hong Kong competition was viewed in the context of heightened tension between China and Japan over control of islands near Taiwan.  

“There are some political difficulties, but Japanese customers and Chinese customers come to our restaurant, and what we want is for everyone to enjoy our sushi,” Kimura told reporters. 

[Link]

How to gain 30-minutes or lose 30 minutes of life every day

When you look at the graphic, realize that 1-microlife is consider 30-minutes. So, in the above graphic if you workout for one-hour, you gain 1.5-hours-of-life a day. If you are stupid enough to be a smoker then you lose 1.5-hours-of life a day. WOW! That works out to be 2-days-of-life for each month or about a months worth of life a year.

From Scientific American:  [Link]

Australian swimmer Chloë McCardel has announced that she plans to try to swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida in June.

I think this swim is possible and I suspect she is capable physically and mentally to do it. Comparing this swim to the first Mt Everest climb by Sir Edmond Hillary would not be hyperbole.

However, unlike Mt. Everest I don't think this swim will ever be easily reproducible without a technology assist.

I suspect anybody who successfully crosses this channel will have to have some serious good luck; (or more accurately), miraculous timing to make this happen. It's a two-to-four-day swim and a lot of variables are involved.

Mt. Everest is a technology assisted climb: From Oxygen bottles, to rubberized fabrics that keep you warm and let your skin breathe. Guides have essentially made a trail that if you are strong, capable, and have good body control a guide; (or sherpa), can walk you all the way to the top. Still, the weather is extraordinarily hazardous. It's cold beyond belief, the footing is slippery, and even with Oxygen people get loopy and out of sorts but more"climbers" make it to the summit than don't.

The challenges that Chloë McCardel will face will far exceed those of Mt. Everest and she will have no technology asist. She will have weather, swells, tides, shipping lanes and dangerously warm water to swim in. There could be sharks, jellyfish, wound infections, and more. When compared to Mt. Everest, that infamous mountain has no predators and climbers are able to get some sleep breaks in between pushes towards the summit. Chloë will have to remain awake for a very long time.

Here is a link to her very inspirational blog:  [Link]

Polar Bear Swims 2013

Welcome to Coney Island - A cardboard robot takes a dip.

When you are standing on Bradford Beach in Milwaukee on January 1st ready to take a dip, What better attire than to wear to a polar bear outfit.

Time magazine has seven more images from around the globe: [Link]

Irv Muchnick's summation of the NBAC sexual abuse accusations are an accurate chronology and summation of what I presented to USA Swimming.

When I heard of the allegations of abuse at NBAC, I spent a week-and-a-half  gather the emails and statements, putting them together and sending them off to Susan Woesner at USA Swimming. The response was sincerely positive and I am impressed.

I then sent it off to journalists so as to ensure there would be some sunlight on NBAC and I detail my motives here: [Link]

Here is a summation from the victim's family point of view of what sort of justice they would like see rendered:

From Concussion Inc:

Three officials of NBAC “need to be censured and sanctioned,” the mother believes. “They should not be in positions of authority or guardians of safety for children.” The three are Bob Bowman, the head coach and CEO; John Cadigan, the director of operations; and Erik Posegay, a coach of the High Performance and Challenge groups. (Bowman, Cadigan, and Posegay have not responded to my inquiries. [...]

In addition, the complainant asserted to USA Swimming, members of the NBAC board who had knowledge of the ensuing cover-up should be removed. Also, “Our son should receive a public apology from the aforementioned people, to be published with our son’s name redacted to protect his privacy.” Finally, the assailant swimmers should receive sanctions of their own, the victim’s mother said, adding: “It is our hope that they get into counseling.”

[Link]

President Obama body-surfing a Hawaiian wave with good form and a smile.

Our President photographed by Alex Brandon body surfing a 4-foot Hawaiian wave with good form and a big smile! Take note people of color, the President can swim and so should the 60% of you that need to learn. C'mon, look how much fun he is having.

See these minority swimming statistics at USA Swimming: [Link]