Lane 1 - The Jewish Chronicle posts "Halter still going strong. Forget Rebecca Adlington and Kerri-Anne Payne, it’s Susan Halter who should provide inspiration to the next generation of swimming stars. At the age of 85, the former Olympian hits the pool every morning with the gold medals still rolling in. Just last October during the Masters and Senior Championship in Sheffield, Halter blew away her competition in the 85-89 age group. Hungarian-born Halter, who competed at the London Games 64 years ago, won four gold medals after triumphing in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke as well as the 50m freestyle."
Lane 2 - The Courier Mail posts "Psychic Julianna Suranyi's 2013 outlook bleak for Stephanie Rice…Rice's dreams of establishing a career as a television presenter will go unrealised in 2013.
"The reality is she's not a Giaan Rooney. I don't feel she's got the intellectual component, personality or talent that you need for a career in TV."
Lane 3 - Kitsap Sun posts "Adrian's golden summer is top sports story. Bremerton's Nathan Adrian is the story of the year. It's been a whirlwind finish to the year for Bremerton's Nathan Adrian. Adrian, if you've been off the planet for the last four months, won two gold medals and a silver swimming at the London Olympics. From that point on, Adrian has become a household name as his fame has skyrocketed."
Lane 4 - Japan Daily Press posts "Olympic swimmer Kosuke Kitajima engaged to pop singer Chisa. On New Year’s Eve Kosuke Kitajima, the four-time Olympic swimming champion, announced his engagement to girlfriend Chisa, the vocalist of pop group Girl Next Door. The 30 year old athlete and 27 year old singer, whose family name hasn’t been revealed, say they will formally register their marriage in 2013, but they have not made any final decision on a ceremony."
Lane 5 - Tinidad Express posts "George Bovell III - A man of integrity. I was not surprised at George Bovell's admission that he should not have been the winner of the Sports Personality of the Year award. I had interviewed Bovell for a book and came away with the impression that he was an extraordinary young man. My sentiments were confirmed with his donation to Rodney Wilkes, our first Olympic medallist."
Lane 6 - The Australian posts "Chasing bliss in the quiet lane. F I drew a map of my life, I would draw it in swimming pools. Whole eras defined by a single pool, the seasons remembered by chlorine-rich rising steam or ocean pool jellyfish. I'm not intrepid. I shy away from lengthy ocean swims and swirling currents. It disrupts the peace of listening to your breath being released in a bubblestream. I hate a big swell at the Bondi Icebergs…Some people say their minds drift when they swim. This hardly ever happens to me. I struggle to get past accounting mode in the water, where all I think about is which number this lap is, and how many there are to go. I joined a squad a couple of years back -- normally not my thing -- and they measured their distances in 300m chunks instead of in numbers of laps. This was a revelation. I was instantly freed from the lap accounting obsession. You'd be at 2km before you knew it without the torture of measuring how long there was to go."
