Put Therese Alshammar of Sweden on your radar!

We hear about Libby Lenton and Britta Steffen when sprints are discussed but Therese Alshammar may beat them both. From Craig Lord over at Swim News : "The result, a 24.23 Swedish record that fell just 0.10 second shy of the world record set by Inge de Bruijn, of the Netherlands when she took gold ahead of the Swedish sprinter's 24.44 at Sydney 2000." Behind her in second place was Britta Stefen by about 3/4 of a second. (Dara Torres American record is 24.53) [Link]

Above is Alshammar obviously swimming fly for which she has a world record in the 50m. I had to include this picture because her reach and the vacuum or air behind her shoulders to her hips blows me away. This photo was taken by guyomedw's at Flickr

Let's talk about Dara Torres with Scott of 'Canuckswimmer'

On Timed Finals early this year I saw an anonymous post someone made accusing Dara Torres of taking performance enhancing drugs. (I won't link to it since I am mad at Timed Finals.) I subsequently wrote to the editor that he should close the thread because it was getting ugly, but the thread remained opened.

Dara Torres, as you may not know, is a 40-year-old mom making an Olympic comeback. Just yesterday she beat Amanda Weir in the 100 free which I thought could not be possible. Dara has been posting some incredible times lately, times faster than she did when she was in college. She ultimately credits it to modern training techniques which I have to agree is factual because I personally have experience with better coaching and better training techniques as well.

I too am faster now than when I was in high school. My best time in high school was a 1:08+ for the 100 free but this year and last year I have gone under a minute twice in the 100 free thanks to the coaching of Erik Hochstein, Bonnie Adair, Clay Evans, and Dimitriy. She is swimming slightly faster, I am swimming much faster.

Scott of Canuckswimmer thinks otherwise about Dar Torres and he puts up some compelling circumstantial arguments as to why he is suspicious of her achievements.

Inge De Bruijn was subject to the same accusations and she never tested positive, Dara Torres has never tested positive either but Scott, who I respect because he can swim faster and write better than I can has written a three part series with references regarding his suspicions of Dara Torres. It is called:

"I came to praise Dara Torres but intend to leave her drowned"

Part 1: [Link]
Part 2: [Link]
Part 3: [Link]

This photo was taken by By cnjerez who hosts his photos at Flickr.com

"Hello Mr. Pot, my name is Mr. Kettle and I think your bottom is black"

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has announced its 2007 group of inductees and Amy Van Dyken is going to be an honoree. (She is the first American woman to garner four gold medals at a single Olympics.)

I posted this blog-post about Amy Van Dyken and Inge de Bruijn about a month or so ago. With this sort of rhetoric and behavior I am bewildered as to why she is an honoree at this time:

From Swim info: “… Amy Van Dyken gracelessly evoked the question; [of Inge de Bruijn taking steroids], when she spit [a mouthful of water] into De Bruijn’s lane before the semifinals of the 50 free and commented after Inky set a world record: 'If I were a man, I could swim that fast.' …” [Whoa, how crass, huh?]

Inge or Inky had no steroid bulk whatsoever and she never tested positive at any Olympics including Athens 2004 where testing was both thorough and extensive.

How ironic that it was Barry Bonds and Amy Van Dyken who testified before the grand jury in the Victor Conte/Balco steroid distribution scandal but Inky has never been summons or penalized.

From SFGate.com: “…Through Romanowski, Conte also gained access to athletes from other sports, such as six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, who once described herself as “the Bill Romanowski of the swimming world,” and 1996 Olympic gold-medal-winning sprinter Chryste Gaines of San Leandro, a Stanford graduate who last year was charged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency with a BALCO- related doping offense. …"

From "About.com": Swimming Research Center in Amsterdam

This site has a blog , propulsion theory formulas, abstracts with math formulas; (yawn), and lots of training information with graphics and charts. Best of all is a video of Inge de Bruijn: [Link]

I got the link from About.com. You can have them send you swim updates if you want, but for now Here is their synopsis:

"... The object of study of the Swimming Research Center Amsterdam is competitive swimming and how to improve a competitive swimmer.What aspects determine performance in swimming? How does the swimmer adapt to training?How is propulsion generated? Can drag be influenced by technique?What is the optimal training program? Rather than looking at any of these aspects separately, the major mission of the Swimming Research Center Amsterdam is to reveal the relationships between metabolic, morphological, mechanical and coordinative aspects of swimming. ..."