Bogel Cacingen: Swimming

Showing posts with label Swimming. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Ryan Lochte beat Michael Phelps to win 400m Individual Medley at London Olympics

Ryan Lochte won the gold medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley Saturday, beating Michael Phelps and the rest of a talented field at the London 2012 Olympics.

Lochte finished in 4:05.18, more than three seconds ahead of Thaigo Pereira of Brazil, who took silver, and Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who won bronze.

image credit:dailymail.co.uk

Sunday, 13 November 2011

Mark Foster British Professional Swimmer

Mark Andrew Foster (born 12 May 1970 in Billericay, Essex, UK) is a British professional swimmer, specialising in butterfly and freestyle at 50 metres. He is a specialist short course (25 metre pool) swimmer. In terms of medals and longevity (1986�2008), Foster is amongst the most successful British swimmers of all-time. He made a comeback at the national championships in July 2007 winning both events he competed in after barely training.

He achieved the fifth best time in 2007 in the world at 50 metres freestyle and retired for the second time after the 2008 Olympics. Mark was first taught by the mother of Sarah Hardcastle at a pool in Southend-on-Sea. He was the fastest swimmer in the country by age 15. Mark Foster was educated at Alleyn Court Preparatory School in Westcliff on Sea, Millfield School, and Southend High School for Boys where he excelled in athletics, football and tennis. Foster competed in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dancer Hayley Holt He managed to stay in the competition until Week Six when he was voted off by the judges in the dance-off, while they saved Andrew Castle.

First selected for the British team in 1985, the breakthrough came in 1990 when he won his first individual international medal - bronze - in the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. He finished the 50 metres freestyle with a time of 23.16 seconds. He had previously won bronze as part of the 100 metre freestyle relay in the Edinburgh games four years previous, but cites the 1990 medal as his first great sporting moment. Success followed rapidly, and in the next few years Foster broke the World Short Course freestyle record four times, the World Short Course butterfly record twice, and set the World Long Course butterfly record (in 1996) with a time of 24.07 seconds.

Despite success at Commonwealth, European and World championship level, Olympic titles eluded him, and he has never won a medal. Some have suggested that he has never quite achieved his full potential, arguing his maverick approach to training and preparation cost him a higher world ranking. In 2004, Foster was to face the disappointment of not being selected for the Olympic Games. At the British Olympic Trials, he won the 50 free in 22.49 seconds, well under the Olympic qualifying standard but seven hundredths of a second below the standard National Team Director Bill Sweetenham had set for inclusion in the British Olympic Team.

Foster has openly criticised Sweetenham's management style, so Sweetenham ensured he was not selected. Nonetheless he was to respond to his omission from the Olympic squad with a stunning gold in the World Short Course Championships in Indianapolis later that year. In the 50 metre freestyle he touched in 21.58 seconds, ahead of Stefan Nystrand of Sweden. Although Mark announced his retirement from swimming after the European short course championships in April 2006 at the age of 35, he still occasionally competed that year at invitational meets.

He returned from "retirement" in 2007 with an aim to win an Olympic medal at the 2008 Olympic Games. Returning to the British squad he won a silver medal in the 50 m freestyle at the 2008 FINA Short Course World Championships, and qualified to represent Great Britain at the same distance in the Olympics. At the opening ceremony on 8 August, he carried the flag for Great Britain during the Parade of Nations. He failed to qualify for the men's 50 m freestyle semi-finals, finishing almost two-tenths of a second outside the top 16.

In May 2009, Mark Foster became patron of The Anaphylaxis Campaign, the UK charity for people with severe allergies. He won �10,000 for the Campaign by participating in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, broadcast on ITV on 8 September 2009. In October 2008, Mark Foster was announced as a celebrity judge for the Miele Fashion Prize, in aid of children's medical charity, Sparks. In June 2009, Mark Foster supported ActionAid's PoverTee Day by having a T-shirt painted on his torso. Mark appeared on the ITV show Beat the Star first broadcasted on 4 April 2008 in which he won 18-3, appearing as the 'star' and as a guest home owner on BBC2's Through the Keyhole first broadcast on 28 May 2008.

During Summer 2008, Mark appeared on the new series of Superstars broadcast on Five in the UK. He later appeared on a Strictly Come Dancing special of the Weakest Link in December 2008, and won �15,900 for charity, beating Anton du Beke in the final round. He had previously appeared on an Olympic special, but did not win. Foster co-presented BBC Look East's 6.30pm bulletin, with Susie Fowler-Watt on Thursday 12 February 2009.

Mark is a contestant on the BBC1 programme 'Let's Dance For Sport Relief' as of 20 February 2010 as part of the dance group The Olympians. Mark also regularly appears on BBC TV regional news and local radio in his role of Ambassador of Pools 4 Schools, a programme run by Total Swimming with the Amateur Swimming Association to increase participation in swimming amongst primary school children.

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Friday, 11 November 2011

Amanda Beard an American Swimmer

Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981) is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist (two gold, four silver, one bronze). She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke (long course). Beard's success have earned her the American Swimmer of the Year Award twice. She has won a total of twenty-one medals in major international competition, five gold, thirteen silver, and three bronze spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Summer Universiade.

Beard is a vegetarian. She is married to photographer Sacha Brown. On September 15, 2009, Beard gave birth to their first child, a boy named Blaise Ray Brown.

Beard made her first Olympic appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at the age of 14, while still a student at Irvine High School in Irvine, California. She was often photographed clutching her teddy bear, even on the medal stand. Beard became the second-youngest Olympic medalist in American swimming history when she won three medals in Atlanta�one gold and two silver.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Beard won a bronze a medal in the 200 m breaststroke.

Beard attended the University of Arizona where she won an individual NCAA Division I championship in 2001. In 2003, she became the world champion and American record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke.

At the 2004 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials, she qualified to participate in four events at the Athens games and broke the world record in the 200 m breaststroke. She went on to win the gold medal in the 200 m breaststroke. Beard also won silver in both the 200 m individual medley and the 4x100 m medley relay. Her split in the medley would have won her the gold medal in the 100 breaststroke; her split was the fastest out of the eight competing (1:06.32)

At the 2008 US Olympic Swim Trials, Beard finished second in the 200 meter breaststroke event, and she qualified for her fourth consecutive Olympics. On 30 July 2008, at the US swimming team's final training in Singapore, Beard, together with Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, were elected co-captains of the US Olympic women�s swimming team.In Beijing, Beard failed to reach the semifinals in the 200 meter breaststroke, placing 18th in the preliminaries.

In August, 2010, she came out of retirement to compete at the 2010 Conoco Phillips National Championships. She finished second in the 200 breast finals at 2:26.50, qualifying her for the Pan Pac Team to represent the USA later in the month. In the 100 breast, Amanda Beard swam a 1:08.72 in prelims and 1:09.12 in finals, finishing 6th.

After the US Nationals, Beard and Natalie Coughlin were nominated co-captains of Team USA once again. During the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Amanda Beard signed up for her two signature events, the 100 m and the 200 m breaststroke. Beard qualified for finals in both events, but failed to medal. She was fifth in the 100 breast (1:07.49) and fifth in the 200 breast (2:24.30).