Henry Out Of Olympic Games

No-one has a right to be privy to the medical woes of Jodie Henry, Olympic 100m free champion, but the results in the pool of late have been all too obvious to see and there was little surprise in the news today that the Aussie sprinter will not be defending her crown in Beijing this summer.



Her announcement, falling on a day that will provide no anniversary for another four years, made clear that she will not race at trials in Sydney. That is more significant to Australia's relay chances against Germany and the United States that it is in terms of the solo contribution she may have made on recent form.

A disappointed Henry told Aussie reporters: 'I would've loved to be in Beijing to defend - to try to defend, sorry - my title, and help the girls win another relay'. But it was not to be. Her pelvic muscles are not balanced, say experts, causing Henry pain when she swims. The cause is partly genetic, reports suggested.

Henry, the smiling face of the Athens Games as she lined up alongside fretful defender Inge de Bruijn (NED), will not be quiiting. She said: 'I am definitely not retiring, as there is no way that I want my swimming career to end like this ... I've got good swimming years ahead of me, I'm a sprinter.'

Head coach to the Dolphins, Alan Thompson said that Henry would be much missed but added in typical fashion of those who need to look at least three moves ahead, that her absence provided opportunity for bright new talent. 'We've got some experienced young ladies in the team now and we've got the youth coming through. Our hope would be that experience assists with the team, as it does with the men's team,' said Thompson.

Text Source: SwimNews.com by Craig Lord

Step Aside Phelps: Hoff Might Get To 7 Golds First

It will be no easy feat if Michael Phelps can get to 7 golds in Beijing; the attempt will require perfection, not just by Phelps, but by his US teammates who he'll need to pick up crucial relay golds. He has a bit of a cushion, and if he is perfect, he could win number 8 on the final day in the medley relay. If he falters at any point, the relay would be number 7. If the latter occurs, there's another swimmer who could make history before him: Katie Hoff. Four years after disappointing results in Athens, Hoff might just replace Phelps as the star of the Beijing Games.

Let's just take a look at her recent swims as an indication of what might come this summer:

Missouri, mid-February: Hoff wins the 100 free in 54.28, a time that matches Britta Steffen as the fastest in the world this year. This sets her up to swim the 100 free individually or on the relay. About an hour later she wins the 400 free in a new American record and near World record of 4:02.20.

Day 2 Missouri: Hoff opens with a win in the 200 free with another American record of 1:56.08. This sets her up to swim the individual event and the relay. Three events later she wins the 400IM in 4:34.53 (She is already the world record holder and defending world champ in this event).

Day 3 Missouri: Hoff wins the 800 free in 8:27.32 before finishing 2nd in the 200IM to Kirsty Coventry in 2:10.23.

Less than 2 weeks later she breaks the American record in the 1650 yards with a 15:24.35, almost 5 seconds faster than Kate Zielger's record.

Of course she will have competition from Coventry in the IMs and Laure Manaudou and Zielger in the frees, but Hoff means business and she is not afraid of either hard work or swimming a hard schedule. There are few, if any, other women in the world who can swim a 54-low in season and back it up with 4:34-400IM and sub-8:30 800 free in the same meet.

The Phelps vs. Hoff showdown: The two Baltimore natives could go one for one as they tally up the golds in Beijing. If Phelps wins the 400IM, 400 free relay, 200 free, 200 fly, 800 free relay, 200IM, and 100 fly, and Hoff wins the 400IM, 400 free relay, 400 free, 200 free, 200IM, 800 free relay, and 100 free, she will get to 7 first. If she doesn't do the 100 free, Phelps could get to 7 first as the final of the 100 fly for men on Day 8 is right before the final of the 800 free for women.

Regardless, the quest for either swimmer is awesome on its own. Who, if anyone, gets there first should be irrelevant. Most swimmers dream of 1 Olympic gold, but if Phelps and Hoff have anything to say, there won't be many left for the rest of the world's swimmers after they're done.


Text source: SwimNews.com

Water Cube Ready For The Olympics

One of the most extraordinary works of the history of the Olympic Games was recently presented, the Water Cube - the group that will receive water evidence in the swimming, synchronized swimming and ornamental jumps from Beijing 2008 and which was in construction since December 24, 2003.

More than 1 million square meters of Ethylene-Tetrafluoretileno (ETFE) were used to have a metal structure that maintains the building that occupies a total area of 100 thousand square meters.

Water Cube was recently used for the first time during the Good Luck Beijing 2008 Swimming China Open (Test Event).

From the outside:

From the inside:

What is Finswimming?

Finswimming is the progression of a swimmer using fins either on the water surface or underwater, using only muscle strength. It is a discipline of underwater sports. The competition distances are same as for swimming (50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 4x100 m and 4x200 m relays). Continental and World Championships are organized by CMAS.

There are three disciplines in finswimming (international events)

* Surface: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 4X100 and 4X200 relay (meters)
* Apnea: 50 (meters)
* Immersion: 100, 400, 800 (meters)

In the United States, competitions are also held in the above events, in addition to the following events in 25 yard pools.

* Surface: 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 1650: 200, 400, and 800 relays (yards)
* Apnea: 25, 50; 200 relay (yards)
* Immersion: 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 (yards)

Surface racing is kicking on the surface, where breathing is allowed. Apnea racing is kicking under or at the surface with no breathing allowed. Immersion racing is kicking underwater while breathing off of a scuba tank and regulator.

It is a fairly undeveloped sport around the world; Russia, China, France, Greece and Italy are the main players. In the United States it is very small but gaining competitors.
The major areas of finswimming the United States include California (around San Francisco, which is the location of the national headquarters for USA Fin Swimming), Texas (Houston, including the suburbs of Pasadena and Deer Park), Rhode Island (around Providence), and scattered individuals in Florida. The United States has competed at the World Championships sporadically since the early 1980s, achieving very limited success on the international scene.

A few competitions are held in the United States, with the last US National Championships being held in California in 1998. Texas hosts three to four meets a year, with participation consisting of Texas finswimmers and those from other countries who live in the southeast Texas area and still train and compete in the sport. They have hosted the majority of the finswimming competitions in the USA for the past 6-8 years. The World Scholar-Athlete Games and the United States Scholar-Athlete Games at the University of Rhode Island have included finswimming competition as a part of their Games program since 1999.

The sport is growing in the United States with scattered pockets around the country popping up. However Texas leads the country in the number of finswimmers and competitions.

Most finswimming training outside of Texas and California consists of cross training for swimming.

The sport will continue to develop and move forward as more swimmers become involved and knowledgeable about the benefits of training with monofins.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Competition monofin's manufacturers:

Chen-Bin, Europalmus, Finis, Hyperfins, Leaderfins, Mat Mas, Monopalme, SpecialFins, WaterWay

Sullivan Goes 21.56

There's something in the water this weekend! Eamon Sullivan has just taken down Alexander Popov's world record over 50m freestyle, in 21.56sec.
The time, 0.08sec inside the Russian sprint tsar's 2000 mark, was clocked at the New South Wales swimming championships today.

Sullivan, bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle at Melbourne 2007, shaved almost half a second off his best.

'I just surprised myself. I felt really, really good in the warm-up and working towards getting under 22 for the first time. I really don't know (what happened). We have made some big gains in the gym and I knew if I put bits of my best race together we would be in for a shot at the 22. To take that much off my PB is amazing.'

It certainly is. The sprint events in Beijing 2008 are far, far from being settled. Sullivan, the first Australian to hold the 50m record and the man who confined Popov to history after a 16-year reign that lasted three and a half years into the Russian's retirement, has catapulted himself from outside chance to title favourite. In the 100m too: Sullivan led off his club team 4x100m free in a Commonwealth record of 48.11 (off a 22.82 split), inside the 48.17 mark that had stood to Roland Schoeman (RSA), and inside the 48.18 at which Michael Klim had held the Aussie record since Sydney 2000 when leading the Dolphins to victory over the USA for the first time in Olympic history.

Check out the video (by Australian News):

Text source: SwimNews

400m European Title

Laure Manaudou will not defend her European 400m freestyle title in Eindhoven, according to French reports that quote her new coach Lionel Horter as saying that the Olympic champion will race 200 to 800m and the 100m backstroke (plus relays) in Beijing, and not the 200m backstroke.

If that is the case, it is an interesting choice at a time when Manaudou appears to remain more dominant in middle distance - she clocked 1:57.34 over 200m in Lyon when pressed by a 1:57.92 from Alena Popchanka - than over 16 laps. The 800m in Beijing, if not before, may well see Janet Evans's monumental world record fall under the unrelenting pressure of Kate Ziegler (USA). Could Manaudou and her sore shoulders get to that? Manaudou's potential in the 200m backstroke is vast - and yet it appears that she may take the same opt-out route of that other great potential over four laps on backstroke, Natalie Coughlin (USA), who says simply: 'No chance - I hate that event.' Fair enough.

In Eindhoven, Manaudou will arce 800m, 4x200m and the 00m backstroke. She will then return to her signature event, the 400m, and the 200m, at the French Olympic trials and national championships April 20-27 in Dunkirk.

The Fastest Ever

The LZR Racer is a swimsuit that looks very similar, if not identical to the same one used by Ian Thorpe in the 2000 Olympics. It looks like a complete bodysuit but does have a wonderful seamless look to it. The swimsuit in fact has no seam as the costume’s material is welded together to give the effect of having no seams. It is interesting and funny to note that one of my friends has a pet turtle named ‘Speedo’. Now I’m sure she meant no disrespect to the company, on the contrary she does not even know that a company like that exists. I suppose she wanted a funny name and I’m pretty sure anyone with or without the LZR Racer would swim faster than little Speedo in the tank. On a serious note though, if the suit can add to the pace of those in the pool, then it would be a great advantage to those sporting it.

The suit will reach for testing in national swimming trials and would be worn by elite swimmers viz. Michael Phelps (US), Libby Lenton (AUS) and Grant Hackett (AUS) in Beijing come August. It will hit the market in May 2008 and would be available at a price tag of $290-$550.