Concept design for a floating hotel yet it looks like a floating "Moby DIck"

Here is a description from local boy, Jamie O'Shea's Super Touch blog

"... Though only in the earliest stages of conception, French designer JEAN-MARIE MASSAUD’s concept for a floating hotel, the glorious whale-shaped “Manned Cloud” promises to be a transcendent thing of beauty should it ever reach the clouds. ..."

Originally spotted at NotCot.org

Swimmers are sexier than rugby players; or so thinks this rugby player's wife!

I just got back from workout and I am to tired to write so I copy/pasted this section from You Tube: "... Perfect Moment is a TV ad featuring Lay's spokesperson and rugby hero, Francois Pienaar, and his wife. As they picnic by the riverside, she indulges in a little fantasy involving Olympic swimmer Ryk Neethling, his six-pack and a bag of irresistibly light and crispy Lay's chips. ..."

This You Tube video showed up in the "Video Bar" to the right of this post. I type in swim-related key words for You Tube and random swim videos show up.

Here is a swim post to 'wash off' the digust you may have with the Marion Jones/Oprah confessional!

Here is the "pool" for an Olympic games that took place between 1910 and 1915. The Library of Congress has released 3000 copyright free images to Flickr.com for distribution. I used the search term: "swim" and these are the images that came up.

Check out that guy with the steam-punk goggles and Hawaiian scarf fashioned into a Speedo: [Link]

Marion Jones confesses her steroid sins to Oprah

I was going to make jokes about how moved I was and how it almost brought me to tears but by the time I got through the article I became utterly convinced she has some sort of egocentric personality disorder.

Snippets: "... I realized that people might not forgive me but that God forgives, and if He can forgive me I can forgive myself and I will be okay," she added. ..."

Asked if she felt she was being made an example of, Jones said "I'm not going to sit here and say I'm happy with the decision and that it's all well and fine. Of course I'm disappointed; (with the jail sentence), but I put myself in a position of having someone else determine my immediate future." I want to use my story to help people," she said.

No! No! No, Marion! First you atone, make monetary amends, and then both you and 'O' can talk about redemption on Oprah's couch. [Link]

Michael Phelps swims about 55 miles a week!

Way to much personal information in a profile piece written by the Colorado Springs Gazette but it does illustrate that even superheroes have problems as well as aspirations.

Here is a snippet: "...“I just don’t want to lose. I just hate to lose,” said Phelps, who will begin competition Friday at the Southern California Grand Prix in Long Beach, Calif. “Your mind controls everything. The more abstract you think, the more out of the box you think, the better person you’re going to be. And it’s going to make me work harder.”

Phelps arrived in Colorado Springs the day after Christmas and has had 70-plus swimming, conditioning and weightlifting workouts in what he called a “fairly brutal” training camp.
The workouts aren’t much different from the ones Phelps does at home in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he swims as many as 55 miles a week. The atmosphere in Colorado Springs is vastly different, as Phelps can go virtually unnoticed. [Link]

'Dead' swimmer recovers in hospital

He stopped breathing for an hour, no remarks about whether he sustained any brain damage. I suspect the water was mighty cold for that not to have happened. The cold slows down everything, bacteria, decay and including death I suppose. Snippet:

"... Deeks had been "very cold" and unconscious when he arrived, according to Sister Wendy Bibly who is in charge of the hospital's ICU.

But she said on Tuesday that Deeks was in a stable condition and had been moved to the general ward. He was due to be discharged on Thursday. ..."

Would have made a great Halloween story! [Link]

An animated fire/water effect I made in 'Adobe After Effects'

I took some 3D stock footage of a drop of water setting off a ripple effect and combined it therein with a fire explosion. This is also a test to see how well I can upload movies directly to blogger without having to embed them from You Tube or other file sharing services. If All goes well I want to do this with WCSN videos. Of course I will ask for permission first. This way they can still keep the embed tags option turned off at their You Tube site yet still allow me to embed them directly once I obtain permission. (So far the upload and processing are going really slow. I am going to hit publish button and hopefully I don't break "innernets.")

Here is a video of me swimming at Santa Monica College last Saturday morning

Yes , I am that slow lately! The yearly pool closures at this time have really hammered me!

'Swim News' has entered the building in a big way

Craig Lord at Swim News is back in the links column. His recent interview with Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director of USA Swimming was epic. He got Mr. Wielgus to admit that USA Swimming is entering into a for-profit model with the Wasserman Media Group despite that USA Swimming is a non-profit governmental body. That Timed Finals has been so bad at crediting sources that they will summarily rebrand the site; or relaunch it with a new name and bring in a new publisher. Also included is info regarding a former marketing chief at USA Swimming but now a "consultant" for the organization is somehow tied to this deal financially.

This interview has brought more to light regarding the USA Swimming/Wasserman Media Group deal than any other article or editorial and I thank Craig Lord for that.

Here is a link to his interview: [Link]

My take: If USA Swimming wants to become a for-profit agency like the NFL; (Mr. Wielgus does site the NFL as a potential model for news and programming), then swimmers connected to the USA Swimming organization should start getting paid and start sharing in the profits much like the NFL players do.

Start dives to get you 'amped up!'

Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA and NHL will join forces with the United States Olympic Committee to combat doping! - Oh Really?

Well, there went my faith in the USOC as an organization dedicated to rooting out doping! This quote disturbed me most: "... As the initial founding partners, the USOC, USADA, MLB and NFL have collectively committed to contribute $10 million to the project. Each founding partner will have one representative on the board of governors, which will oversee the research. ..." [Link]

Hello? Didn't they try a similar arrangement in Las Vegas during the 1950's when the mafia had at least one representative on the board of governors at each casino so as to keep both the gamblers and the casinos honest?

Like the Mafia, the NHL, the NFL, and the MLB, they will look out for their interests only and not those who are interested in eliminating doping all together. As board members they will stall, threaten to eliminate funding, and forewarn any and all zillion-dollar athletes who generate kajillion-zillion-dollars for the league that they are suspect.

FACT: The MLB and NFL have had widespread doping for the last half-century and they knew it. NFL doping reference: [Link] MLB doping reference: [Link]

Above is before-and-after photos of Barry Bonds post his Balco make-over

Photorealist, Alyssa Monk, creates painting of people connecting with water

I found Monk's work at NotCot.org. To see a slide-show of her work click here: [Link]

Laure Manaudo has had three coaches in 2007 now she may switch once more!

Laure Manadou has proven that she can swim fast no matter who coaches her. Heck, I could even coach her and she would still win. (Hey Laure, I'm available, call me!)

Lane 9 News reports that Manaudou is: "... in negotiations with the Mulhouse club according to France's Laurent Horter." ... "This newest move would put her under the tutelage of Lionel Horter, who coached Roxana Maracineanu to a world title in the 200 back in 1998. ..." [Link]

APF says: "... The triple world champion was attracted by being able to train regularly in a 50-metre pool alongside top-level swimmers, including Stasiulis, Amaury Leveaux and Aurore Mongel. ..." The inset photo is from AFP of Manaudou and her new boyfriend, Benjamin Stasiulis. (French backstroke swimmer.) [Link]

I think the 400m free in Beijing will be close one between her and Kate Ziegler. I am not convince that Ziegler will lose either. As for the 1500m,800m free; Zeigler will so own that race. (I have made that mistake 3 times - I think in 2012 they will have a 1500m for the women) At FINA Worlds last year Manaudou ultimately conceded it to her; could that happen again?

The octopus who insist on swimming with Mr. Potato Head - He will hurt you if you try to take it away!

This octopus is 6 feet long and turns aggressive if you try and take his toy away. [Link]

Former Olympian, Marion Jones, sentencd to 6 months for lying about her steroid usage!

A former district attorney and now a defense lawyer told me this at the pool: "A fish would never get caught if it didn't open it's mouth." My take is that you either tell the truth or just shut up and let the system work its way through. Just look what happened to Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds and now Marion Jones; all of the above got indicted, all were convicted save for Barry Bonds who hasn't gone to trial yet.

Here is a snippet of what the judge told Marion Jones when she begged not to go to jail: "... Before the sentencing, Jones broke down as she asked Karas not to send her to prison. "I plead with you to alleviate the situation by not separating me from my boys, even for a short period of time," she said.

But Karas noted that "athletes in society ... serve as role models to children around the world. When there is a widespread level of cheating, it sends all the wrong messages. ..."
Link to the Marion Jones sentencing at CNN: [Link]

If Marion Jones would never have lied to federal investigators she would not be labeled a "former Olympian" and she would not be going to jail! Olympian, Amy Van Dyken, would certainly understand that for when she was questioned in the Balco scandal she told the Grand Jury everything she knew.

Balco scandal time-line from USA Today and note who is on the list: [Link]

Ad campaign for global warming awareness features a swimmer viewing a metropolitan city underwater

I found this at NotCot.org who originally found it at I-believe-in advertising-dot-com. The campaign as designed by Naga DDB, Malaysia to raise awareness as to how the destruction of rain forest relates to global warming.

Does it work for you? I would have preferred a post apocalyptic version of New York city half underwater as if it were some perversion of the Venice canal system but rendered in complete rust and foreboding.

Manhattan Island did not exist exist 10,000-years-ago; it was covered up by a massive glacier, hence it is not unreasonable to believe that it could be covered up once again but this time with water.

Here is a link to an ice-age map - Note, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Most of England didn't exist as well: [Link]

This is mind blowing! - 'Unfoggd.com' breaks down Michael Phelps' 10,000-calories-a-day requirements into a day at Mcdonalds!

At his imaginary day at McDonalds, Phelps would probably need a shovel! This would be Michael Phelps' after-breakfast snack:

Mid-morning snack:
2 Big Macs
1 Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese
1 Medium Fries

Unfogged.com: [Link]

Leave it to 'Swimming World' to know exactly when the Beijing "Water Cube" would be filled up with water!

I can just see Jason blurry eyed at 1:00 AM his time calling some Chinese aquatics worker who just showed up for work and has just been told it is his job to fill up the pool today. So, there he is standing on deck holding a green garden hose when suddenly his cell phone rings, "Dude, Jason here, did you turn the hose on yet? Hurry up, I want to go to bed and when it's filled I need a link to a photo, okay? Listen, I gotta go, there is sectional meet going off at 9:00 A.M. in Buffalo Breath, Montana and I have to go prepare." ;-)

You have to click on the China.org.cn if you want to see what the pool looks like with water in it.

Here is Swimming World's take: [Link]

Here is my take: The photo above is from anton hazewinkel's Flickr set. I put it up because I thought the bubbles were make of a hard plastic, They appear in this picture to be "giant baggies." I am baffled as to how these plastic baggies work or even stay taut or filled with air? The photo also illustrates the bubbles scale in relation to the human form. Looks insect like.

Beijing 'Water Cube' images unveiled

It's ugly and I know I am a lone voice in the wilderness about that. Here is a link to more photos and an article regarding its unveiling: [Link]

Originally spotted at Swimming World's, Lane 9 News.

Thanks to the 17th Man and the Cannuck Swimmer

Thanks for the info regarding Guidstar. This will allow me to investigate USA Swimming's 501c form and to see how their execs will be compensated as a result of the Wasserman Media Group deal since nobody really knows.

If you want to check two blogs of two really fast masters swimmers click here, The 17th Man Canuckswimmer

'Outside Magazine' profile on Michael Phelps - His caloric intake is about 8k to 10k per day!

Snippet: AQUAMAN IS STRUGGLING with his double chicken enchiladas. This is because on dry land, Aquaman, a.k.a. Michael Phelps, is the self-described "klutziest person on earth." It's late October, and a week ago Phelps tripped while climbing out of a car here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, reached to catch himself, and cracked his scaphoid. He's earned himself a short pin in the wrist, a few days out of the drink, and a club of a cast that's making an awkward affair out of one of his favorite pastimes—hunting down the 8,000 to 10,000 daily calories it takes to fuel the world's most dominant athletic machine. [Link]

Bob Bowman is talked up too.

Have non-profit sports governing bodies been seduced by greed?

I actually had a person call me on the phone some months ago from a swanky sports related marketing firm summarily complimenting the blog; I didn't believe them because I am either overly cynical or that I have self esteem issues. Nonetheless, this person asked me a question about what I thought the Wasserman Media Group wanted to do with USA Swimming and I said, "I don't know, you're the marketing ninja, perhaps WMG wants to use USA Swimming athletes as product endorsers and not have to pay them a fee?" What surprised me is that he agreed!

As outrageous, and improbable or even impossible as that sounds, that is exactly what the NCAA is about to do. Here is a snippet from a NPR Marketplace report outlining how this exploitive use of and athlete's image will be accomplished:

" ...ETHAN LINDSEY: The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, has strict bylaws banning a school from profiting off a student-athlete's name or image. That's why you'll never see a current college athlete pitching, say, Gatorade. But those rules would change under a proposal currently being discussed by the NCAA. ..." [Link]

That sent me wondering as to what sort of bonuses or commissions would the officers of USA Swimming receive after brokering a marketing deal with a global marketing group such as WMG? The USA Swimming '501c - form 990' would have to list any such commissions. Does anyone know how to request a 501c - 990 form? I know it has to be made available. I will post the form or forms if you tell me how to find it.

(I built the graphic above this morning. I purchased the photo of the swimmer from istockphoto.com and I found the logos and the 100 dollar bill image online.)

Informercial voice: "Lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks or pay me $500!"

Economist Richard B. McKenzie of the Wall Street Journal was so fat, so large, so morbidly obese that moons use to orbit around his belly; but that was the old R.B. McKenzie!

After losing 378 pounds; which is like three Gisele Bündchens' pasted together, he still had 10-pounds to go! 10-pounds he couldn't lose and in his words: "10 pounds for what seemed like a decade."

Here is what he did: "... I contracted with a friend to pay her $500 if I had NOT lost nine pounds at the end of 10 weeks. I and a witness (my friend's husband) signed the pact. My friend similarly obligated herself to take the payment and to spend it on herself. She affirmed her solemn pledge with her signature, witnessed by her husband (with a big grin).

I won't give away if he passed or failed but for a limited time only, I will extend an exclusive offer to all of you who read this blog! If you cannot lose 10-pounds in 10-weeks, you can pay me $500 or a negotiable fee at the end of that 10-week period! But that is not all: as an incentive I will send you a link to your very own customizable, food pyramid, calorie allowance calculator of which food groups you should eat from so as to get you on your way. But wait, there's more! I will include a T-shirt designed by world renown blogger, Tony Austin, FREE for just $20 in shipping and handling fees. And if you still are not satisfied: I will link the R.B. Mckenzie, Dieting for Dollars article at the Wall Street Journal website right now: [Link]

The sculpture to the right is called: The Roman Gladiator by Fernando Botero. The image came from Wikipedia but I cropped and modified it.

Underwater Digital Video & Still Image Camera

It is both a digital video and a still image camera. Wouldn't it be great to film your own races if you could keep it on your face after the start dive? [Link]

Originally found at NotCot.org

'Lane 9 News' article regarding WADA: '2008 Prohibited Substance List'

'Lane 9 News' has a brief overview and a link to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2008 Prohibited Substance List. [Link]

I downloaded the WADA PDF and one thing I noticed that was added to the list is Gene Doping defined as "... The non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or of the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to enhance athletic performance, is prohibited. ..."

If gene doping is on the list then some athlete or athletes are probably doing it. Most likely using a therapy called, Repoxygen™ by Oxford BioMedica. The Repoxygen™ process alters your body so as to create EPO and therefore combat anemia. It also delivers more oxygen to your heart: [Link]

Wiki article on Gene Doping: [Link]

My top three choices for the 2016 Summer Olympics Games

Tokyo, Japan - Tokyo 2016 Olympic bid
Prague, Czech Republic - Prague 2016 Olympic bid
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic bid

These are my top three choices for the 2016 Olympics Summer Games. Note that Chicago is not on the list. To be fair, I was also relieved that my home town of Los Angeles is not on the list due to its many systemic problems with transit and socio-economic inequalities. (You are either affluent here in Los Angeles or you are struggling. There is no middle-class here. Middle-class people can't afford a $550,000 dollar home, two $15,000 cars, and 2.1 kids.)

Also note that it is not that I have any problem with the city of Chicago but rather that the USA has hosted more Olympiads than any other country.

According to the USOC: "... Including the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the United States has served as the host country more than any other country -- a total of eight times -- four times each for the winter and summer Olympic Games. St. Louis, Mo., was the first U.S. city to host the modern Olympic Games in 1904. In 1932, the U.S. hosted both the IIIrd Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the Games of the Xth Olympiad in Los Angeles. Squaw Valley, Calif., and Lake Placid were the host cities for the 1960 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games, respectively, while the 1984 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, where a record-setting profit was realized, and the 1996 Olympic Games were held in Atlanta. France and Germany are the only other countries to have ever hosted two Olympic Games in one year. After the USA, France has hosted the most Olympic Games -- five, including the 1992 Olympic Winter Games. [Link]

Erica Rose swims 12-and-a-half miles a day!

But on slow day it is just 10-miles; but then there are the weights, the cycling, and the stretching that needs to be done. Now, imagine doing all of this while earning a BA in Psychology. Is there a swimmer out there that is more industrious? If you are a masters swimmer, her warm-down is your workout!

Erica wears TYR and has three open water national titles in the 25k, four national titles in the 10k, and four national titles in the 5k. On the international level her open water stats are just as sublime with gold medal swims at the Pan American Games, a gold medal swim at the Pan Pacific Championships and a gold medal swim at the World Championships in 1998.

Other accomplishments:

• The longest distance Erica has ever swum at one time is 88 kilometers (about 55 miles!)

• The longest amount of time Erica has ever swum at once is 10 hours, 5 minutes!

• Erica trains nearly 6 hours per day in order to be able to do these types of races!

Here is a link to her website. [Link]

'Polar Bear Swims' with links to photos and articles

Polar Bear Swim: Pilchuck River, Machias, Washington: [Link]

Polar Bear Swim: Seattle, Washington: [Link]

Polar Bear Swim: Vancouver, Canada: [Link]

Polar Bear Swim: Marin Keys, near San Francisco: [Link]

Polar Bear Swim: Brighton Beach, New York [Link]

Polar Bear Habitat, Ontario, Canada: [Link]

FINA has a new website! In fact it is so new, some of the pages are still under construction.

FINA: Fédération Internationale de Natation, the swimming body of all all things aquatic has a new site. But here is a caveat, since it is so new not all the pages are working yet. It looks like they will have a multimedia page which I am hoping allows the user to embed videos with one's blog. It probably won't happen but I can hope. What astonishes me is how little attention FINA pays to Masters swimming. They need a short course meters championship for us as well. (You know, I have been complaining a lot. I have to stop that. [Link]

Excess exposure to chlorine makes us sick!

I wondered if swimming in a chlorinated pool could effect someone healing from leukemia so I did a Google search on this search term: chlorine leukemia link. Consequently I was really surprised at the preponderance of evidence linking chlorine exposure to leukemia. (Of course it seems logical since chlorine is a biocide and there is no life form that can stand up against it.)

Here is an National Institute of Health study: [Link]
Medical News Today has some news about a study done on European children [Link]

We have to start using less chlorine in our pools and utilize proven alternatives despite the added costs.

USA Swimming, the United States Masters Association, and we swimmers should push our local communities, our park pools, our colleges and universities to adopt better water filtration systems such as ozone and/or osmosis to purify our water. It may not eliminate the need for chlorine entirely but it would greater reduce our exposure and risks of autoimmune issues.

Here is some posts I wrote last year about ozone based pools and chlorine exposure:

Chlorine pools tied to more colds

Chlorine: Biocide, chemical weapon, used in insecticides, dyestuffs and it plays havoc with skin, hair and possibly our immune systems!

Well known water facilities using ozone to treat their water:

• Disneyland and Disney World for all their water features
• Mirage Resort, Las Vegas
• San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA for their marine and Aquatic habitats
• Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, Canada -for their Sea mammal support systems

I have been swimming at the the Santa Monica College pool that primarily uses osmosis and chlorine to filtrate it's water. I have notice that I have suffered fewer illnesses this year as a result.

Here is a sub one minute 100 free at SPMA Short Course Meters Championships at the Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, CA.

The Long Beach Grunions put on this Masters meet and it was a lot of fun. I think the swimmer featured went out on a 28 and came back on a 29-high. Well done whoever you are!

Guess who is back in the pool getting ready for SCY season?

And you wondered why SCAQ pools were closed during Christmas; Santa booked them all! Here he is doing a kick set at LMU.

I made this image in a free 3D program called Bryce 5.1 Bryce 6.0

Is 'Timed Finals' up for sale?

From Lane 9 News: "... PHOENIX, Arizona, December 24. IN what appears to be financial concerns that could affect a landmark venture between the Wasserman Group (WMG) and three of United States Olympic Committees' national governing bodies (USA Swimming, USA Track and Field, and USA Gymnastics), WMG is shopping its Online Sports Network in lieu of an expected eight-figure loss for 2007. ..." [Lane 9 quotes the Sports Business Journal as their reference.]

Consequently, they want to sell Sportnet.com for 50-million-dollars to obviously cover some losses. [Link]

That figure is mind boggling for I don't see 50-million dollars of product there. Heck, even my site has more swim content than Sportnet and Floswimming has a 100 times more content as well. Therefore, I have to assume that their primary assets are the contracts they have with those that produce content but in relation to other content providers, it is still anemic.

For instance, take Movielink.com as an example as a content provider. Movielink.com was founded as a joint venture between Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros., who were responding to consumers' adoption of high-speed Internet access well before iTunes came to market. Movielink.com had far more contracts with several major movie studios and foreign distributors. They sold and rented 100's upon 100's of movies per month. This includes documentaries, animation, shorts, extreme sports, etc. In August of 2007 movie rental giant Blockbuster acquired Movielink.com for a mere 6.6-million-dollars. Sportnet has nowhere near the content nor the contracts that Movielink had access to nor such an advanced e-commerce infrastructure. Hence, where is the equity in Sportnet? [CNN article on the Movielink.com sale Link]

Timed Finals, along with Sportnet.com is owned by The Wasserman Media Group as well. I am assuming that the site was purchased for the sole purpose of augmenting the USA Swimming deal. Will Timed Finals be sold if Sportnet.com is sold since it is seemingly one it's properties?

USA Swimming should have cut a deal with WCSN and Swimming World instead.

"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" or in plain english, how to get into the "zone!"

I ran into this article on Digg.com. It's from a blog called FREELANCE-SWITCH, a blog dedicated to handing out free advice to creative or technical professionals. I think it works even better for goal oriented swimmers. Here is a snippet:

"...With the publication of his seminal 1991 book, Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience, Hungarian cognitive scientist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi laid out the elements of that magical state artists and athletes called “the zone.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, there are eight fundamental elements of flow. To cultivate the flow-state, a task or project must include as many of these elements as possible:

• Allows you to work toward a clear goal with a well-defined process

• Cultivates deep-concentration

• Creates a lack of a sense of self-consciousness

• Leads to an altered sense of time

• Provides ongoing, direct feedback

• Is highly-challenging, but doable

• Allows for control over the means to accomplish the goal, and

• It’s meaningful or intrinsically rewarding, by the very nature of doing it ..."
  

• [Link]
  

The Dutch want to build a new Island off their coast in the shape of a tulip!

I love this story, it's so full of art, drama, and most of all is a bait and switch proposition. Here is a snippet from the Herald Tribune story:

"...Dubai built Palm Island. Now the world leaders in land reclamation are considering an island in the shape of a tulip to fight overcrowding and shield the coastline from the rising sea.Supporters of the scheme say it will give Dutch companies a chance to showcase water management skills that are increasingly in demand due to global warming ..." [Link]

If they make this island, I suspect only the rich and the mega-corporations at large are going to be invited. Since, water will seek it's own level if the planet does not cool. An island in the shape of a tulip won't stop a rising tide if earth continues to warm.

I like this project because it is an ideal experiment in regards to the viability of an artificial island and the planning of a new western European city therein from the ground up. Maybe a clean city will emerge as a template for future ones.

New 'TYR Tracer Light' teaser shot on the TYR homepage

Above is a nice photo of Fran Crippen looking focused and capable. TYR athletes are finishing quite strong in open water events as of late, i.e. Mark Warkentin, Fran Crippen.

TYR athletes are promoting how fast these suits dry, how efficient they feel in the water, and of course how wonderful they are. Of course they are paid to win but wearing a suit in 5k race or 10k swim boggles my mind since the suits saturate. When I wore a Speddo FS II Leggings during a 800SCM at the Pierce College Turkey Shoot meet, I felt like like I was wearing wool sweatpants after 500 meters. Now every time I see a You Tube of Thorpe, Hackett or Jensen doing a 1500, I start sweating.

Noe, for TYR athletes to wear these suits during such long, arduous swims and subsequently do extremely well, I wonder, will these suits be water resistant?

Sweedish Athletes should have GPS chips implanted under their skin to detour them from taking PEDs - So says Swedish athletes Klüft and Holm

I saw this first on Slashdot.org and had to post it. This from The Local: Sweeden's News in the English Language: "... Swedish athletes Carolina Klüft and Stefan Holm; (World class heptathletes), have caused a stir on the home front by proposing radical measures to ensure that top level competitors refrain from taking performance-enhancing drugs.

"... Competitors at the highest level should either have computer chips implanted into their skin or GPS transmitters attached to their training bags to help keep track of their movements at all times. ..." [Link]

It's a radical idea, I don't think it would work since you can dope just about anywhere but I appreciate their enthusiasm. The only way to prevent doping is to remove all possible incentives to dope. That would entail a sport that issued no awards, no prize money or salary, no national recognition, no record books, and you had to compete anonymously. I suspect the only people that would show up to compete would be those that truly loved the game. I would say that masters swimming is about half way there.

The Guardian Unlimited: "Italian swimmer, Luca Marin, has denied putting explicit pictures of his former lover Laure Manaudou on the internet"

Snippet: "...I know nothing about the video and have only seen the photos. Yes, it looks like it's really her but it is ridiculous to think that it was me who put them there," Marin told Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport... ." [Link]

Now, what can I say without getting sued in some international court? Hmmm, how about this: Yeah, Luca Marin didn't post these photos but the person that paid for them, or the person acquainted with the owner of these photos certainly did. So, the big question is, were these Luca Marin's photos?

Laure might want to consider pulling an "Amanda Beard"as distasteful as that sounds so as to to at least have a better product out there and to better manage her reputation. (Well, that is to say if the French care in the first place for they are pretty understanding of the human condition.)

Per the Website AskMen.com: Kate Moss "...During her pregnancy, ... posed nude for a near life-size portrait called "Naked Portrait 2002," which sold for approximately $6.5 million at Christie's auction house. [Link])

Laure should consider something similar and either donate the money to charity or use the money to chase down her non-sanctioned photos and 'out' the original poster and distributor and consequently sue from there.

The photo above comes from Chauffeur-de-Buzz [Link]

If you steal or plagiarize, be very, very, afraid! - And that goes for 'Mr. Splashy Pants' as well!

Here is a link to a new blog where designers, artists, writers and others can 'out' those that steal and/or plagiarize from them. Expect this site to be on the radar of everybody that has been "borrowed from" and just about every Fortune 500 back ground check wanting to ensure if their potential new hire creates fairly.

The above is an example of an original design by Fabio Catapano being usurped for a Greenpeace, "Save the Whales," campaign. Unless Greenpeace can come up with a license which proves they have de facto rights for this "Mr. Splashy Pants, this artwork will appear to be absolutely stolen from Catapano.

The blog is called: ["you thought we wouldn’t notice but we did!"]

Bondi Beach swimmer bitten by shark: 'I survived by punching it on the nose'

I hear a thumb to a shark's eye is better, but then again, not swimming at night is probably a much more effective defense.

It's almost summer south of the equator and subsequently Australian swimmers are summarily entering the food chain with every open water swim. To be fair the North America continent has the most shark attacks than any other location on this blue planet but Australia places high on the charts as well! [Link]

With those statistics in mind, Scott Wright, decided to do a night swim at Bondi Beach. Though the odds were on his side; 11.5-million to one and 70-years since a shark attack at Bondi, someone has to win the lotto. Gory pictures; (plural), and details in the London Daily Mail [Link]

SCAQ swim tip from Erik Hochstein and Rada Owen

Rada Owen; Olympian, NCAA champ and more, is the featured swimmer in the David Marsh swim video: Swimming Faster: Freestyle. She also holds a management position at SCAQ. Here is a swim tip from a SCAQ email:

RADA OWEN'S SWIM TIP: When swimming freestyle, keep your head and neck still and in one position until you turn to breath. The head acts like a steering wheel of sorts; if it is bobbing and moving all around, your body will follow, causing resistance and unnecessary energy expenditure. Keeping your head and neck still will help your body to rotate properly around its long axis (head to feet) in a controlled manner. A proper rotation will allow for further extension with each stroke which will in turn help you pull more water and move with more control and ease. A great way to work on this is to pretend you are wearing a neck brace that inhibits any neck/head movement while you swim. That is the first step on your way to a controlled, efficient and fast stroke!

The picture above is from the site Swim Clips-Dot-Com. The article is entitled Swim Like Rada: [Link]

Erik Hochstein won the bronze medal in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the West German National Team, He swims for Team TYR and holds many USMS records. Here is his swim tip:

ERIK HOCHSTEIN'S SWIM TIP:Breathe Low -- Yes, we need the air to breathe and for the most part people should be breathing to one side on every arm pull to that side - but the turning of the head should be kept as low as possible. I see people that - while breathing - can admire the stars in the sky during an evening workout and others that can see the planes above their heads during the day. In this case - less is always better - and here is a quick and easy self-check: close the eye on the side you are breathing for a 50 and keep the other eye open -- if you see anything above the surface of the water, your head is turning too high.

Alshammar cuts $100,000 check with 50 meter fly win

From the video description: "Sweden's Therese Alshammar completed her own World Cup standings victory to cut a huge check of $100,000 when she clocked a time of 25.69 in the women's sprint fly. ..."

WCSN won't let me embed this You Tube video but here is the You Tube link: [Link]

I am actually quite cross about this too. This is not like WCSN and it is summarily illogical for them to do it this way. The more you let people embed your videos, the bigger your brand becomes. If they keep it up then I can't endorse them and I won't link to them anymore.

I will only link this one time to a WCSN video that disallows You Tube embedding. I hope all swim bloggers follow suit.

'Combat Swimming' as taught by the Navy SEALs

I am not impressed. The stroke creates a huge wake behind you and looks pitifully slow. Also the lead shoulder appears to be subjected to a lot of stress.

Glenn Mills or the Total Immersion guys should go down to Camp Pendleton and give clinic.

More on the 'Swimming World' article: " "They Cheated. They Stole. They Lied!" - Moral conundrum for the IOC"

There is an article in the New York Times regarding philosophical and moral conundrums which I think works well as an analogy to the Marion Jones/East German medal argument: Here is a snippet:

" Suppose the chairman of a company has to decide whether to adopt a new program. It would increase profits and help the environment too. “I don’t care at all about helping the environment,” the chairman says. “I just want to make as much profit as I can. Let’s start the new program.” Would you say that the chairman intended to help the environment?

O.K., same circumstance. Except this time the program would harm the environment. The chairman, who still couldn’t care less about the environment, authorizes the program in order to get those profits. As expected, the bottom line goes up, the environment goes down. Would you say the chairman harmed the environment intentionally? ..." New York Times: [Link]

Included in the article are the polling results to the above questions. I personally felt that both CEO's intended to either assist or hurt the environment respectively. Between 72% and 82% of the respondents disagreed with me. Therefore, I am either an idiot; (likely), or a genius; (unlikely), but so far I have no opinion on the IOC decision yet.

Did some or all of the East Germans knowingly dope? Do they deserve a statute of limitations (SOL) window? Does any athlete deserve and SOL window if they knowingly or unknowingly cheated. Also, how do you prove something that occurred nearly 1/3-of-a-century ago? The IOC is not a legal body.

"They Cheated. They Stole. They Lied!" - Moral conundrum for the IOC

Swimming World has an article/polemic comparing the Marion Jones steroid scandal with the 1972-1976 GDR (East German) Olympic Team. Therein, it states that Marion Jones will have to return her Olympic medals whereas the East German Olympians who were knowingly or unknowingly doped will get to keep their medals.

It all has to do with this "statute of limitations thingy" that the IOC has adopted. If you go 8-years without being "discovered", you are immune to IOC retribution. Marion Jones was within her alloted 8-year time limit whereas the GDR was a quarter-century into theirs.

Inevitably the name Shirley Babashoff comes up and a quote from her as well.

I have never understood the "statute of limitations." Perhaps everyone at one time or another has made a really bad choice or a very self-interested decision that violated a law. Let's presume they did nothing to cover up the crime; (heavy emphasis on the assumption that they did nothing to cover up the crime), no one was physically hurt, and they subsequently moved on and led a good life. Should these people be punished, selectively punished, or simply forgiven? The IOC has chosen the latter. Swimming World wishes they would have chosen the former. [Link]

The photo is of: Ender, Kornelia (Britannica Student Encyclopedia) (born 1958). East German swimmer Kornelia Ender was the first woman to win four gold medals in one Olympic Games.

Lessons in pop culture from the swim blog "Uinnista"

"In ur base beatin' ur doodz" ;-) - Uinnista has an even funnier graphic and caption [Link]

Manchester 2008 World Championships promo

A better video is at their site: [Link]

Just hold your breath for 25 seconds!

The title of this You Tube video is: "Athens 2004 - women's 50m free semifinal 2 - underwater cam." Lot's of things to take note of as well. The women closet to us primarily looks down per the Total Immersion theory. The girl winning the race looks way up.

I personally start my sprints looking down and then gradually look up as I build momentum. I certainly don't look up as high as the woman featured and I certainly can't swim as fast as her either.

Do you want to feel real slow? Look at these USMS SCY Nationals qualifying times

They are sick! If you are a male in th 40-44-year-old age group, you have to swim a 24.76 to get an automatic slot in the 50 free. Here is a link to the qualifying times PDF: [Link]

Here is a link to the SCY Nationals website: [Link]

'Pentatones' music video for the song 'Hidden' - One dancer, upside down and underwater!

The Germans do black and white film making better than any one. (They even did the first Vampire movie too.) The song is called "Hidden" and this minimalistic approach to film-making is quite pleasant to watch. Unfortunately, you can't buy the song on iTunes and I can't find it anywhere. I even tried the German iTunes store. Here is a link to their website though: [Link]

"Texas Swimming" blog spanks 'Timed Finals'

My dad started out as a used car salesman and eventually became an editor of some sort for the Hollywood Reporter. Every morning before school he would get me up at 5:30 A.M., throw some clothes at me, and we would drive from newsstand to newsstand to see which one had gotten the Hollywood Reporter or the Daily Variety first. He would hand me 50 cents so I could buy them for him and then we would return home for breakfast.

At the kitchen table he would underline sentences from the Army Archerd column in The Daily Variety, and then do the same thing to the guy who wrote the gossip column for The Hollywood Reporter.

One morning, I got fed up with getting up so early so at breakfast I asked "what are you doing, you underline these sentences every morning?" He replied back, "I am writing my column." And I said, "No you not, you're copying, you're cheating!" It didn't go over well at the kitchen table but ultimately my dad plagiarized his way into entertainment journalism.

Well, that is what Scott Goldblatt, the editor of Timed Finals, is being accused of doing by the swim blog, Texas Swimming. I have accused him of it too and I understand that a particular writer for the Australian press is getting wind of this sort of nonsense as well.

All Scott has to do to alleviate this criticism is to ensure he credits his sources. If he doesn't, he and the parent company of Timed Finals, the Wasserman Media Group, are going to become irrelevant to swimming.

My dad shamefully got away with it circa the 1960's, but in the age of the internet whereas everything is databased, that isn't going to happen.

Here is a link to the Texas Blog spanking. The photo to the right is the Texas swimmer himself: [Link]

Amaury Leveaux in motion at the 2006 European Championships

Note his thumbs as his hands enter the water. They stay in close to the index finger upon entry and then open up wide during the catch so as to grab more water.

Erik Hochstein article at Timed Finals reappears after editing

Erik Hochstein wrote an article about Ryan Lochte's breaststroke portion of the 200 IM for for the Wasserman Media Group owned, Timed Finals. The article was posted and then immediately taken down. Less than a day later the article reappeared but in an edited form even though there was nothing in the article that was incorrect or offensive. I suspect the heavy editing was due to advertising interests since both Timed Finals and Swimnetwork.com are owned by the same company. Snippet:

"... If this was a certain Japanese swimmer, there would likely be an entire website dedicated to the issue by now. Threads regarding illegal breaststroke technique often dominate websites and message boards, most recently there was a highly active conversation surrounding a breaststroker not moving his “feet” out - or simply just kicking fly instead of breast. But this is one of the American heroes — yes — none other than Ryan Lochte.

Here is a link to the the edited version of the article: [Link]

Ryan Lochte used a dolphin kick during his breaststroke portion of the 200 IM at Nationals. He should have been DQed

The person who wrote the following post on The Race Club message board is an Olympic medalist:

"... k -- before responding, go to the US swimming website and check out the webcast from day 1 of Nationals for the 200 IM -- about 1 hour and 10 minutes into the webcast. [Link]

Check out Lochte's Breaststroke swim (not the turn) -- they show a good underwater of his 2nd 25 -- he is clearly doing a Fly kick after completing his breaststroke kick -- you can even see the bubbles moving down after his kick.

A lot of Breaststrokers move their feet a little bit up or down when the legs are extended (for example Phelps does that - but it is usually more of a balancing or getting the feet in the right spot before the next Breaststroke kick) But you are not allowed to get propulsion out of this and Lochte is for sure getting quite a bit of that out of his extra fly kicks, just look at the bubbles moving down and out. ..." [Link]

I can't post Lochte's breaststroke due to the Wasserman Media Group refusal to let anybody view it unless you go to their site and notice the Speedo Banner ad at the top of the page. Ironically enough, the banner links you to You Tube of all places, the same site that the Wasserman Media Group has pulled fan videos from. (See this post [Link]) DO NOT CLICK ON THE BANNER - SHOW IT NO LOVE!

The breaststroke is now becoming a confusing embarrassment. Anything related to butterfly should be removed from the stroke. Below is an example of more line crossing by Romanos Alyfantis:

1980 Olympic Team: To receive Congressional Gold Medal as originally intended

Swimming World links to an NBC Sports article regarding the intended awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 1980 US Olympic Team. [Link] Swimming World [Link]

In 1980 there was a US Olympic boycott of the Moscow Olympics over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Consequently, athletes were summarily robbed of the chance to prove themselves and represent both town and country in what could have the apex of their life's work.

On June 25th 1980, the 96th congress of the House of Representatives voted 374-28 in favor of awarding the 1980 US Olympic team the Congressional Gold Medal - But that is not what they received! Instead, they received a cheesy gold plated bronze medal from the USOC which the USOC had to pay for.

Here is a page to the US House of Representatives of those that have received the Congressional Gold Medal. It's quite impressive, it includes Pope John Paul II; Navy Commander and de facto father of the navy, John Paul Jones; Prime Minister Tony Blair; Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Simon Wiesenthal; Gold Medalist, Jesse Owens, and many more. [Link]

Now, what you think would be a unanimous vote in the congress, it was not! 374 voted in favor and 28 voted against. I can't find the Roll Call log for HR 7482 vote to see who voted against it but I can't imagine what their reasons were.

Hopefully this is a healing moment for people like Cynthia "Sippy" Woodhead, Glenn Mills, Brian Goodell, and all of the other swimmers and athletes who were the victim of a failed foreign policy decision.

If any 1980 Olympians read this, please feel free to add a comment to this post. Send me pictures too if possible!

'The 17th Man' Surveying his realm, and it is good!

Blogger Joel of "The 17th Man" up at the blocks at the Belmont Plaza and ready to swim the 200 fly at the SPMA Short Course Meters Championships. Blogger Joel swam the 200 fly as fast as I can swim a 200 free. Joel makes the 200 fly look like a warm-up swim. he is relaxed and very well paced. Meet results page: [Link]

The meet was hosted by The Long Beach Grunions who are the most cohesive team I have ever seen. They are friendly, organized and enthusiastic but they have a peculiar habit of teasing each other when they are up on the blocks. Nonetheless, I must say that the insults and the witty retorts made for great swim theater as well as Grunion camaraderie. :-)

Dozens of world records were broken there and Swimming World covered it too [Link]

The 'TYR Tracer Light' speed-suit is quasi-water proof?

At the TYR site is a short flash movie of the new TYR Tracer Light. According to the athletes on the video;Larsen Jensen, Amanda Weir, they hint that it is water proof since it dries so fast [Link]

All of the above pimp it quite solidly with comments about how light, how smooth, how water repellent it is and fast. I am not paid to pimp TYR but the athletes on their payroll are. I wear TYR because their suits have proven demonstrably faster than Speedo for me. In fact, I am giving my Speedo leggings away after setting three personal bests in a TYR at the SPMA Bellmont SCM Championship meet this past weekend.