Lane 1 - The Herald Sun posts "Without question, Michael Phelps, retiring as the most decorated Olympian in the history of the Games with 22 medals --18 of them gold -- has been the face of American swimming. But Cullen Jones stands out, too, certainly because he's a terrific swimmer; and he's a black swimmer, one of three of African-American descent who hit the pool in the Aquatics Centre in London as members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic swim team. Lia Neal and Anthony Ervin are the other black swimmers for Team USA."
Lane 2 - Courier Mail posts "Rice and Bryant's booming relationship. Former Olympic swimmer Craig Stevens believes there is "definitely something going on" between Dream Team basketballer Kobe Bryant and Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice."
Sports Grid posts "Kobe Bryant’s Relationship With An Australian Swimmer Has The Olympic Village Gossiping." Larry Brown Sports posts "Stephanie Rice: Kobe Bryant and I are just friends. “FYI yes Kobe and I are friends, but no we are not together and never have been,” she wrote in a tweet. “Can’t guys and girls be just friends..? He’s an amazing athlete and I’ve enjoyed getting to know him and many other great athletes in my Olympic journey.”
Lane 3 - news.com.au posts "Australian Olympic swimmers lucky to be on minimum wage. AUSTRALIA spent $38 million on swimming in the lead-up to Alicia Coutts winning her Olympic relay gold medal in London but our most successful competitor at the Games will soon be back cleaning out cat litter trays. Despite the massive amounts of Federal Government funds spent on the sport and a salary close to $500,000 a year for Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates, most of the Australian swim team survive on less than the minimum wage."
Lane 4 - abc news posts (w/video) "Olympic Athletes Swim Like Dolphins in Computer Animation."
Lane 5 - WSJ posts "NYC swimmer with Olympic bronze: Fun is important. Olympic swimmer Lia Neal is back home in Brooklyn with the bronze medal she won in the women's freestyle relay. The 17-year-old beamed as she proudly wore her medal Thursday on Fox 5 News. She says it also belongs to everyone who helped her along the way. Neal thanked her parents and extended family for their sacrifices. She said her mother drove her to practices, sometimes nine times a week, and went to all her swim meets. It was her first Olympics."
Lane 6 - NY Times posts "Synchronized Swimming, Hollywood’s Gift. In an ideal Olympic universe -- you know, the one in Baron de Coubertin’s head -- we probably wouldn’t need a quadrennial do-over of Wimbledon. But let’s take the Olympic movement’s words as our guide: “faster, stronger, higher”. Then let’s take the words of one of the Italian synchronized swimmersl: “We pretended to make pistols with our hands.” This, remember, is after her team gelled their hair and put on waterproof makeup. For the Olympics."
Lane 7 - nine posts (w/video) "Money talks at the Olympics. The Olympics' most successful athletes are in the midst of a massive publicity campaign in London as some of the world's biggest companies attempt to cash-in on the Games."
Lane 8 - Time Magazine posts "Olympic Homophobia: Why Are There So Few Openly Gay Athletes? In the high-profile world of Olympic competition, only a small (but growing) number of gay athletes have publicly acknowledged their sexual orientation."
BONUS: An update from yesterday's report now with video "Thief swipes swimming pool stripes. A bizarre theft in northwest Albuquerque has officials baffled. Someone stole the stripes off the bottom of the Paradise Hills swimming pool." - koat.com
