Jessicah Schipper to coach Ken Wood: "You are so fired!"

She really didn't say that; I was just pretending to be an Australian headline writer for they love shrill headlines with lots of drama.

Let's say that you are a globally ranked swimmer and you found out that your swim coach was selling your workouts to a Chinese competitor and even the invited the competitor down for a swim with you. Let's say that you and this Chinese swimmer meet up at the Olympics and she hands you your bum and you place third. Would you be mad?

Jessicah Schipper says in this Age.com article: "...I was aware of that. He had told me about it, so it has nothing to do with that," Schipper said, adding that their parting was amicable.

"It's just I'd been doing exactly the same thing for 10 years. It was pretty much just the same old, same old, and I just feel it's time for a change.

"I need a new outlook on swimming, probably a younger coach's perspective, I suppose."

She is considering joining Stephan Widmer, who has coached her Queensland teammates Libby Trickett and Leisel Jones, with whom (along with backstroker Emily Seebohm) she won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 medley relay in Beijing. ..." [Link]

As seen on TV: Grant Hackett's 48 hour diet!

Wendy of off-the-deep-end sent me this article from The Age in response to that photo I posted of Grant Hackett's plushy belly. Here is what he had to say: "...Do I look like I'm really that overweight? I don't really think I am," said Hackett, who was publicly praised in March for his best performances in years at the Olympic swim trials.

"At the end of the day you carbo load, you have 3.5 kilograms of fluid before you start the race . . . (and) there were a whole set of circumstances and (that was) just an absolutely unflattering shot. ..." [Link]

Naked fisherman makes 12 hour swim to shore after trawler sinks

From The Age: "... He was spotted by search helicopters after 8am, after another fisherman on the trawler survived a remarkable 12-hour swim to shore yesterday, ending up on a beach suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.

"He grabbed my attention as he had lacerations up and down up his legs and scratches all over his [naked] body. [...] "His boat had overturned and he had hadn't seen his mates since 3.15am. ..." [Link]

One of the crew members was found 5-miles off the coast where they "clung to the esky." (I have no idea what that means.) I suspect that an experienced masters swimmer could have been able to swim 5 miles in 2-3 hours. I don't mean to be arrogant but being an accomplished swimmer can easily save your life in a stressful situation such as that. Even if it took the swimmer 6-hours instead of three; that is a heck of lot better than dog paddling for 12-hours.

Here is a link to a video at the Herald Sun: [Link]

More details at the World News Australia about the missing crew and how it happened here: [Link]