Lane 1 - Reuters posts "Seychelles teenager feels the inspiration. "Inspire a generation" is the official slogan of the London Olympics and Seychelles swimmer Aurelie Fanchette is the embodiment of it. The 14-year-old, already a veteran of the 2011 world championships, Fanchette was the slowest competitor in the 200 metres freestyle heats on Monday but the time of two minutes 23.49 seconds was not what really mattered even if it was a personal best. Fanchette is one of two Seychelles swimmers at the London Games, the other being a 19-year-old male, and both were invited as wild cards."
Lane 2 - news.com.au posts (w/video) "IF you're an Olympic athlete and can't attend the opening ceremony, why not make your own? Australia's rowing team, based at London's University's Royal Holloway campus 40 minutes away from the Eton Dorney Olympic venue, knew it made so sense for them to attend the Opening Ceremony and get back to the village at 2am when they were on the water competing seven hours later. So, in the finest traditions of Australian rowing, they put their trust in their five male team reserves to choreograph a 10-minute dance extravaganza in their gold budgie smugglers as an alternate form of entertainment."
Lane 3 - Buzzfeed posts "Ryan Lochte Has An American Flag Diamond Grill. Ryan “Lil Jon, Patriot, Bald Eagle” Lochte."
Lane 4 - Marketwatch posts "LivingSocial and USA Swimming Team Up Poolside. Promotion Helps Families Dive In to Swim, Learn and Play. (BUSINESS WIRE) -- LivingSocial today announced it is joining forces with USA Swimming to provide its members exclusive access to swimming clubs across the nation. Starting today, LivingSocial's Families channel will feature package offers available at dozens of USA Swimming clubs and learn to swim providers from Phoenix to St. Louis, Portland to Milwaukee, and beyond. Offers can be purchased at livingsocial.com/families and include, but are not limited to: Swimming lessons - 50% off 8 lessons, Drop-in swim passes - 10 drop-in pool passes and Club memberships - 50% off one-month membership "Our goal at LivingSocial's Families is to offers experiences that help parents make memories with their kids," said Susan Tynan, GM of LivingSocial's Families. "Our partnership with USA Swimming is particularly special to us because we're encouraging family fun and healthy lifestyles while simultaneously teaching our youth a critical life lesson: how to swim." Industry research(1) shows that participation in formal swimming lessons can lessen the risk of drowning by 88 percent among kids aged one to four years."
Lane 5 - StAugustine.com posts "City once held Olympic swimming tryouts. “Mermaids en route to Ancient City for the meet” declared the headline in a February 1926 issue of The St. Augustine Record. The meet was the Women’s National Amateur Athletic Union Swimming Championships. The mermaids were many of the top female swimmers in the United States. The destination was the Alcazar Casino swimming pool (now the Lightner Museum). Sports writers referred to the swimmers as “mermaids,” “naiads” and “lassies.” (If you’re rusty on your Greek mythology, naiads were the nymphs who protected brooks, springs and wells.) If the tone sounds a little dismissive, it fit with the times."
Lane 6 - nbc chicago posts "Olympic Primer: How to Watch Swimming. Your cheat sheet for watching swimming at the Olympics. Swimming has been part of every modern Olympic Games, but the competitions weren't always held in a pool. The first few Games held swimming competitions in open water — at Paris' 1900 Games swimmers competed in the River Seine. In 1908 the rules were formalized, when the London Games organized the first Olympic Swimming competition to be held in a pool. Women’s events were added in 1912 at the Stockholm Games."
Lane 7 - nine posts (w/video) "Relay swimmers 'didn't choke'. Australia's swimming coach has leapt to the defence of the men's 4x100m relay team, insisting they didn't choke under pressure."
Lane 8 - USA Today posts "Ryan Lochte has a new nemesis: French swimmer Yannick Agnel. America's newest villain is a 20-year-old oceanography student from Nice. t's this Yannick Agnel. The tall drink of water who went by Ryan Lochte like a torpedo Sunday night, stealing the 4x100-meter freestyle relay gold away from the Yanks like a pickpocket in a subway car. "Magical," Agnel told the French press afterward. "Simply magical."
