Lane 1 - USA Today posts (w/video) "Freestyler Cullen Jones makes teaching swimming a priority. Cullen Jones almost became a statistic. Now he's a pioneer. At age 5, he nearly drowned at a water park when his inner tube flipped over at the bottom of a slide. Cullen Jones almost became a statistic. Now he's a pioneer. At age 5, he nearly drowned at a water park when his inner tube flipped over at the bottom of a slide."
Lane 2 - ESPN posts "Hansen taking different approach to Games. At a time when comebacks appear to be all the rage in swimming and the likes of Janet Evans and Brendan Hansen have returned to the pool in the hopes of returning to Olympic glory, there's one man who has decided to stay home. And there's nothing Hansen or anyone else can do about it."
Lane 3 - ESPN posts "Coughlin's run a bit under radar. There are mornings when Natalie Coughlin is so jazzed to see what's happened overnight in her garden that she goes outside to inspect it while she is still brushing her teeth. The 11-time Olympic swimming medalist, Cal-Berkeley graduate and Bay Area resident has one bed for strawberries, one for herbs, one for salad greens and another one she rotates seasonally that currently features tomatoes and summer vegetables. She tends her own mini-orchard of citrus, fig and stonefruit trees, and keeps five chickens, three that lay blue-green eggs and two that produce brown."
Lane 4 - The Miami Herald posts "Age now is just a number for Olympic athletes. Improvements in sports science, nutrition and financial compensation have led to Olympic athletes extending their careers. Michael Phelps intends to make the 2012 London Games his third and final Olympics while gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson hope to be Olympians for the second time this summer. Shooter Kim Rhode will compete in her fifth dating to 1996. Athlete longevity in the formerly amateur Olympic sports was a major topic of discussion at the three-day U.S. Olympic Committee Media Summit, which concludes Tuesday. Even First Lady Michelle Obama, who made a special appearance with some of the 110 athletes in attendance, emphasized the importance of making sports a “lifelong habit.”
Lane 5 - NY Times posts "Reaching for Zen With Each Stroke and Lap…But however many of these tales I can recall, I’m no match for a fellow journalist, Lynn Sherr, author of a new book, “Swim: Why We Love the Water.” Ms. Sherr celebrates the culture, history and physical and mental rewards of this ancient sport, second only to walking as the nation’s most popular recreational activity. Among Ms. Sherr’s eclectic collection of watery adventures was a four-mile swim at age 69 across the storied Hellespont (now called the Dardanelles), the channel dividing Europe and Asia Minor. She earned a medal for finishing in 1 hour 26 minutes 16 seconds."
Lane 6 - Herald.net posts "50-year-old swimmer Olliges makes quite a splash 50-year-old Lake Stevens swimmer Paul Olliges has set his sights on becoming a national record holder. Paul Olliges of Lake Stevens, turning 50 was an opportunity. Olliges, a former elite national swimmer, decided he had better things to do than sit around and mourn his 50th birthday last October. So 18 years after he took up triathlons, and five years after resuming a regular swimming regimen, Olliges set out to become one of the nation's premier masters swimmers."
Lane 7 - The Statesman posts "U.S. breaststroke stars Hansen, Shanteau set to renew rivalry. The U.S. Olympic swim trials are a little more than a month away, but the two competed in Charlotte this past weekend; Shanteau won both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststrokes, while Hansen was second in the 200 and third in the 100."
Lane 8 - Orlando Sentinel posts "Foundation backs swimming lessons for Broward kids. The battle to prevent child drownings in Broward County has received a big boost from a local philanthropist — and continued attention from one of its better-known politicians. The Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation announced Monday that it will be donating $500,000 toward swimming lessons in Broward County over the next three years, with preference toward children 9 and younger who are on free or reduced-priced school lunch programs."
