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.

World Records In Tokyo

Reiko Nakamura and Yuko Nakanishi broke World Shourt-Course Records at the Japan Shourt-Course Championships.


In the 200m backstroke, with 2:03.24 Nakamura shaved 0.38sec of the Natalie Coughlin(USA) record.
Splits:
Nakamura 29.11; 1:00.25; 1:31.79; 2:03.24
Coughlin 29.49; 1:00.96; 1:32.70; 2:03.62

In the 200m butterfly Nakanishi sliced 0.41sec of Otylia Jedrzejczak (POL) Record:

Splits:
Nakanishi: 28.25; 59.50; 1:31.26; 2:03.12
Jedrzejczak: 28.56; 59.51; 1:31.06; 2:03.53

Check Out:
- Results of Japan championships