Lane 1 - ESPN posts "Guam swimmer far behind - but at least he finishes. Benjamin Schulte could've quit. Wanted to, in fact. "Around the second-to-last lap, I was just like, 'Man, I've still got two laps to go," he said, the pain just oozing from his voice. "I was already completely exhausted by that time." So, long after everyone else had climbed out of the water Friday, Schulte finally touched the timing pad, more than two hours after he started. In keeping with the true Olympic ideal that so often gets obscured by the focus on gold medals and endorsement deals, he had given it his best to the very end, even when his arms were burning and he couldn't really feel his legs anymore."
Lane 2 - Reel Chicago posts "Kellogg’s ‘Swimmer’ best in Olympic ad competition. Kellogg’s ‘Swimmer’ best yet from Leo Burnett. Let’s hear it for sentiment. The big winner in the 2012 London Olympic advertising pool is a commercial simply titled “Swimmer.” It’s easily the best thing Leo Burnett/Chicago’s creative department under chief creative officer Susan Credle has done in a long, long time. This spot doesn’t celebrate the obvious Olympic theme — winning. Rather it cleverly and oh so emotionally offers a tip of the hat to great beginnings, without which, “Swimmer” argues, there can be no winning finishes. Lushly visual, the spot, most of all, is a triumphant mesh of exquisite music and spot-on copywriting. We love the way it keeps one under its thrall by keeping one guessing about where the spot will end up. A fabulous Olympic entry. And it gets our vote as the top gold medal winner among advertisers in these 2012 London Olympic Games."
Lane 3 - TMZ posts "Michael Phelps Competes in the 5xBanana Hammock Relay. Michael Phelps really meant it when he decided to go on a guys only vacation to the Maldives ... and TMZ has the bro-tastic pics to prove it."
Lane 4 - The Telegraph posts "Ian Thorpe: am I gay? It’s at the stage I just say 'whatever’. As a BBC pundit, Ian Thorpe has won a legion of fans and been thrust back into the spotlight . He talks to Harry Wallop."
Lane 5 - NYDN posts "Olympic bronze medal-winning swimmer and Brooklyn girl Lia Neal is feted at homecoming ceremony as she returns home to New York. Among the starstruck throng ringing the Olympic-sized pool where Neal cut her teeth were Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz."
Lane 6 - Desert News posts "Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin says college-pro decision is harder. Missy Franklin is still leaning toward college over cash. For now, anyway. By turning pro, Franklin would be eligible to grab endorsement deals that could be worth millions, but would cost her the chance of swimming at the collegiate level."
Lane 7 - BBC posts "British Swimming says it will carry out a thorough review following a "disappointing" Olympic campaign."
Lane 8 - NY Times posts "Water Damage. CULLEN JONES and Lia Neal were among the many swimmers to win medals for the United States in this year’s Olympic Games. But their inspiring performances obscure a disturbing truth. Not only are they, as African-Americans, anomalies in the elite levels of their sport, but enormous numbers of African-Americans do not have even rudimentary swimming skills, a lack that costs lives. A 2010 study by the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis reported that nearly 70 percent of African-American children do not know how to swim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American children between the ages of 5 and 14 are almost three times more likely to drown than white children."
