Lane 1 - NY Times posts "Black Swimmers Increasing Diversity of the U.S. Team. Swimming in the United States has never appeared more diverse…Cullen Jones, qualified for his second individual event in the London Games with a victory in the 50-meter freestyle…With his runner-up finish, Ervin, whose father is of African-American and American Indian descent, became the third black member of the 2012 United States Olympic team: Lia Neal, a 17-year-old from Brooklyn, finished fourth in the 100-meter freestyle on Saturday night to earn a spot on the women’s 400 freestyle relay. The United States has never had more than a single team member of African-American descent and never had a single one before Ervin in 2000."
Lane 2 - Stock & Land posts "Stephanie Rice 3.0: swimming star grows up. Stage one is the girl who flew under the radar, then burst into the public consciousness as the star of the Beijing Games. Then there is Rice 2.0 of the post-Beijing era of gossip columns, high-profile relationships, sponsorship deals, that tweet and the tear-stained public apology. Now, Rice 3.0 has emerged - the focused and fiercely competitive athlete swimming at her peak despite having an injured shoulder, and wiser but not hardened after those few tumultuous years."
Lane 3 - Herald Sun posts "Swimming great Susie O'Neill delivers warning on use of sleeping pill Stilnox. SWIMMING great Susie O'Neill delivers a fresh warning on the over-use dangers of sleeping pill Stilnox to athletes searching for ways to "switch off" from the hectic pulse of the London Olympics. O'Neill said yesterday she regularly could not get to sleep until 2am during her nerve-fraying Sydney Olympics campaign in 2000 and forecast sleep deprivation would again hit members of the 2012 swim squad. "You have to give a warning about over-use because there will be athletes wanting sleep and not getting as much as they need," the two-time Olympic gold medallist said."
Lane 4 - WSJ posts "N.Y.'s Tour de Hudson. Swimmers Tackle the Hudson River, One Bridge at a Time. While swimming superstars Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte were racing last week for spots in the London Olympics, a band of fanatics known only to the tight-knit open-water swimming community were engaged in an aquatic feat of their own: swimming 120 miles down the Hudson River."
Lane 5 - nine posts "Cash bonuses a carrot for Aussie swimmers. Australia's swimmers will be rewarded for winning Olympic medals and improved world rankings under a new funding deal announced by Swimming Australia on Monday. All members of Australia's swimming team bound for the London Olympics starting this month will receive an initial share of more than $750,000 to assist in their final preparations for the Games."
Lane 6 - nine posts (w/video) "Aussie golden girl Libby Trickett. In preparing for her third Olympics appearance, Australian swimmer Libby Trickett opens up on winning gold for the first time at Athens in 2004."
Lane 7 - "50 year old FRESHMAN Suzanne Heim-Bowen is an independent documentary film about Suzanne Heim-Bowen, an open water swimmer and inductee in the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame. The film was directed and produced by Deborah McDonald and it won the 2012 Best Sports / Outdoor Feature at the 2012 Indie Film Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado and will be shown at the 2012 International Aquatic History Symposium & Film Festival in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida." - via openwaterpedia
Lane 8 - Omaha.com posts "New apparel doesn't cover as much skin — for better or worse. OK, maybe there are better people on our staff to test-drive the latest in swim technology, but the line was pretty short when this assignment came up again…Unfortunately for all of us, I can most assuredly say the latest creation from Speedo's research laboratories is more revealing than the suit I wore four years ago…The FASTSKIN3 Super Elite Racing System — the suit, goggles and cap in one package — purports to enable every athlete to reach full potential in the water. Athletes like Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps have looked great in them all week at the CenturyLink Center. Your faithful correspondent, frankly, doesn't."
