the17thman

Nintendo Gameboy TV ad with Michael Klim (1998)

Australian TV commercial for the limited edition Gameboy Pocket Gold with Donkey Kong Land. Features Olympic swimmer Michael Klim. Recorded 03/98.

Friday's Swim Report - Swimming In Stunning 3DS

Lane 1 - Reuters posts "Swimming-Frustrated Rice would have ditched season but for Olympics.  Triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice would have ditched this season out of sheer frustration at her shoulder injury were it not for the London Games, the Australian said after her first race of the year on Friday."

Lane 2 - Omaha.com posts "Californian hoping past close shaves pay off.  Tyler Clary is one of the best swimmers in America you've never heard of. And when you learn who his main competition has been, you'll see why.  During the 2008 Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Clary placed just out of Olympic bids in both the 400 individual medley and 200 backstroke. In the back, he lost to Aaron Peirsol, who may well be the best swimmer ever in that stroke, and Ryan Lochte, arguably the fastest swimmer in the world today. In the IM, the guys who grabbed the Olympic spots were Lochte and a guy named Michael Phelps."

Lane 3 - Reuters posts "Swimming-Olympic hopeful Trickett shows she's no 'fraud'.  Libby Trickett's quest to compete at a third Olympic Games received a major boost on Friday when the Australian swam her fastest time since coming out of retirement, a performance that made her feel less like a "fraud".  The three-times Olympic and eight-times world champion retired in late 2009 before returning to competition last June but has been struggling to post competitive times since."

Lane 4 - Courier Mail posts "Queensland swimmer Emily Seebohm takes aim at rivals ahead of Olympic trials.  RE-ENERGISED Queensland swimmer Emily Seebohm is taking aim at rival golden girls Stephanie Rice and Alicia Coutts as she chases her dream of an Olympic gold medal in London."

Lane 5 - H2OAudio posts "Gear Buzz reviews the Amphibx Fit cases" via youtube.

Lane 6 - Where Live posts "Olympic hopefuls on the blocks.  Elite swimmers angling for a spot on this year’s London Olympics team will suit up at the NSW State Open Swimming Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from tonight.  Competing swimmers include James Magnussen, the current 100 metres freestyle men’s world champion, Geoff Huegill, Libby Trickett, Eamon Sullivan, Matthew Abood, Stephanie Rice, Belinda Hocking, Angie Bainbridge, Leisel Jones, Andrew Lauterstein, Emily Seebohm, Jayden Hadler, Kenneth To, Cameron McEvoy, Olivia Halicek, David McKeon, Emma McKeon and Hugo Morris."

Lane 7 - London 2012 posts "Mario & Sonic on 3DS at the London 2012 Olympic Games" via youtube.

Lane 8 - Yahoo posts "AP Enterprise: US Olympic’s London gym nearly done.  Think of it as “Colorado Springs East”—a training spot for U.S. Olympians in London.  A sparkling new 21 million-pound ($33.2 million) gym at the University of East London is just about complete and will host the U.S. Olympic team during the games. In a few weeks, it will be ready for everyone from stars like swimming’s Michael Phelps and basketball’s Kobe Bryant to U.S. athletes who are still relatively unknown, offering them privacy to lift, stretch and practice."

Wednesday's Swim Report - Wild Swimming!

Lane 1 - BBC Radio has (w/ audio) "The 'exhilaration' of wild swimming.  Throughout autumn and winter, people around the UK gather for coldwater swims, including on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.  Author Susie Parr, who has written about "wild swimming" in the Story of Swimming and 74-year-old Georgina Rose from Clevedon talk about their passion for taking the icy plunge."

Lane 2 - Awe!  Rubber Duckies in swimming pool!  London 2012 posts "Season's greetings from London 2012 (Olympic Games)" via youtube

Lane 3 - USA Today has "Amanda Beard embraces roles of mom blogger, Olympian.  When Amanda Beard's husband suggested the name "Swim Like a Mom" for her blog, she hated it.  I feel like it's rude," the four-time Olympic swimmer told him. But Sacha Brown, a photographer who helps his wife with the blog, persisted. "He said, 'It's a positive thing. You're a mom, you swim fast,'" Beard said. "It's all in good fun."  Now they good-naturedly call the blog "SLAM" and Beard's Twitter followers have dubbed themselves 'Slammers.'"

Lane 4 - ABC News "Review: 'Michael Phelps: Push the Limit' for Kinect…The entire game consists of variations of strokes and course lengths. It feels like the title would have been better as cheap downloadable content or packaged in a larger Olympic sports world. At least keep with the swimming theme and give us diving as an option. "

Lane 5 - Port Macquarie News posts "Stephanie Rice to help Port swimmers.  PORT Macquarie swimmers are being encouraged by triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice to join her swim squad.  The program is aimed at sharing her secrets of success with young aspiring swimmers.  Rice’s swim squad is an online program designed to inspire our next generation of elite swimmers.  Swimmers from Port Macquarie under the age of 18 who want to learn from the Olympian are encouraged to complete the specially designed Steph’s Swim Squad application on the SunRiceFoods Facebook page."

Lane 6 - Stuff posts "Shark spotted near popular beach.  People have been cautioned to stay clear of part of Papamoa beach after a two-metre-long shark was spotted.  This morning's sighting came just days after a shark damaged a piece of sonar equipment being used to look for containers from the cargo ship Rena, grounded off the Tauranga coast."

Lane 7 - Sports Illustrated posts "Open-water swimmer looks to make name for himself in 2012.  With the Olympics right around the corner, most athletes have the Olympic trials at the front of their mind.  But Alex Meyer is not like most athletes. The open-water swimmer is the first American swimmer to have qualified for the 2012 Games. While he is still training hard, Meyer, 23, can relax just a tiny bit, knowing that he will be representing the U.S. in London next summer."

Lane 8 - Wired.com posts "Study: New Swimsuit Aided Record-Setters at 2009 Championships.  Yes, the 2009 swimming world championships were just as devious as you suspected.  A study by Northwestern University has found that the 43 world records set at the event in Rome were accomplished primarily as a result of the participants’ swimsuits."

Monday's Swim Report - Mystery Solved: How Sonic The Hedgehog Can Swim

Lane 1 - Daily Mail posts "Taking a dip: Prince Albert of Monaco swims in Mediterranean (but that's nothing compared to Siberian swimmer who wears only Speedos as temperatures plummet to -20C)  His wife is a former Olympic swimmer who competed at the Sydney Games.  And it appears Charlene, Princess of Monaco's, enthusiasm for the sport has rubbed off on her husband Prince Albert."

Lane 2 - Herald Sun posts "Swim star Stephanie Rice forced to delay return to training.  TRIPLE Olympic champion Stephanie Rice has had a setback in her recovery from shoulder surgery with an infection forcing a delay in her return to training.  Rice's doctor ordered her to avoid training on Monday after she developed the infection following last week's arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn tendon in her right shoulder."

Lane 3 - Swimming Santa  via youtube

Lane 4 - Gay Games Blog has "Congratulations to Team Auckland Masters Swimmers on their 20th anniversary! ongratulations to our friends from IGLA member club Team Auckland Masters Swimming, whose history is recounted in this story from GayExpress.co.nz:  Team Auckland Masters Swimmers – one of New Zealand’s longest-running GLBT community groups – is turning the big 2 – 0 in January; that’s 20 years of swimming cozzies, chocolate fish and overseas trips!"

Lane 5 - NZ Herald posts "Swimming performance hub set for capital.  Swimming New Zealand will establish its first regional high performance hub in Wellington next month.  The Regional High Performance Unit would complement the National High Performance Centre at the Millennium Institute, Swimming New Zealand said today."

Lane 6 - Siliconera answers the question of the century "How Sonic Can Swim In The Mario And Sonic Olympic Games.  When Nintendo and Sega began work on Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games​, both were tasked with supervising the depiction of their own characters in the game. Nintendo would keep an eye on how the game depicted Mario and crew, and Sega kept an eye on Sonic and friends. This naturally led to some differences in opinion, regarding what was and wasn’t acceptable within the game.  One of these topics was with regard to swimming. Not only did Sega ponder the subject of whether or not characters like Peach and Mario should have to wear swimwear, Nintendo themselves rejected the early costume designs for Peach and Daisy. Meanwhile, the supervisor in charge of the Sonic brand at Sega wouldn’t budge from the fact that Sonic isn’t supposed to be able to swim at all, let alone take part in an Olympic swimming event."

Lane 7 - USA Today "Brendan Hansen is beating his rivals, feeling less pressure.  Brendan Hansen left competitive swimming so he could do all the things he'd put on the backburner, like getting married.  His wife, Martha, a sixth-grade math teacher, quickly put two and two together when she saw the two-time Olympic breaststroker in the pool without any real purpose."

Lane 8 - The Huddesrsfield Daily posts "Rebecca Adlington says Huddersfield Sports Centre has vital role to play in unearthing Britain’s next international talent."

Wednesday's Swim Report - OMG! Be Bright Pink!

damn Group Kick!  I can't get you out of my head…Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Ohh my gosh!

Lane 1 - The Naperville Sun has "Swimmers fight breast cancer.  Cross-town rivals came together in bright pink swim caps to compete and to raise money for a relatively new organization that provides awareness, education and resources for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer." bebrightpink.org

Lane 2 - Ubergizmo posts "Finis Positive Drive Fins.  Swim like a fish, or so the saying goes. While even the best of us out there such as Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps are able to leave the rest of the competition in their wake as they take to water, they are but mortals when compared to fish. Still, that doesn’t mean our human spirit is about to give up on improving ourselves, which is why we’ve developed tools since time immemorial to help us out in our everyday tasks. The Finis Positive Drive Fins is said to be able to help one go further and faster with less effort, where they were specially designed for correct propulsion with all swim strokes."

Lane 3 - The Swimmers Circle posts "Florida Women Get Huge Verbal from Top Sprinter.    Gregg Troy and the Florida Gators received a huge verbal committment yesterday when CollegeSwimming.com’s #13-ranked Natalie Hinds made a verbal committment to swim for the Gators in the fall of 2012."

Lane 4 - Star Africa has "Swimming/World cup (25m- Dubai) : Chad Le Clos, Dubaï prince.  With six victories the South African became the undisputed champion of the first stage of short course swimming played in Dubaï. He ruled on butterfly and 4 strokes.  Besides the medals, Chad Le Clos had wonderful time clock on 100 m butterfly of 50 "66 and 1'52" 14 and ranked 55th of 200 m in the same category. On his side, the Kenyan Jason Dunford  also stood out by winning two gold medals in 100 m Nl and 50 butterfly. The next outing for these swimmers is scheduled from 15 to 16 October in Stockholm (Sweden)."

Lane  5 - CBS Marketwatch posts "ALFA Helps Fight Ageism with New Partnership Promoting Senior Olympics Documentary.  ALFA, the leading voice for professionally-managed, consumer-driven senior living communities, is partnering with the PBS documentary Age of Champions to spread the film's uplifting message to senior communities across the country.  Age of Champions is the inspiring story of a group of athletes--a 100-year-old tennis champion, an 86-year-old pole vaulter, a pair of swimming brothers, and a team of basketball grandmothers--all chasing gold at the National Senior Games. The film is available to ALFA members as part of a nationwide "Host a Screening" campaign to help battle ageism and encourage the highest quality of life for seniors."

Lane 6 - Engadget posts "European blue Wii bundle takes Mario & Sonic to the Olympics, sends US gamers home without a medal.  You didn't expect the Olympics to land in London without a video game tie-in snapping at its heels, did you? Of course not, but did you expect it to be bundled with a powder-blue console? Here's the skinny: Nintendo's Mario & Sonic at the 2012 Olympic Games Limited Edition Pack..."

Lane 7 - Business Week posts "Walsh, Sanders join Kellogg Olympic campaign.  U.S. Olympic Committee sponsor Kellogg Company will feature Kerri Walsh, Summer Sanders and five others as part of its campaign leading into the 2012 London Olympics…Sanders won four medals for swimming at the Barcelona Games. They're highlighted in a campaign that will focus on the importance of eating a good breakfast as part of a sound strategy for success.  Other athletes on "Team Kellogg" are Juan Agudelo (soccer), Michael Landers (table tennis), Rebecca Soni (swimming), Casey Tibbs (paralympics) and Dwight Phillips (athletics)."

Lane 8 - The Examiner posts "Shark Attack in St Pete!!  A local 19-year old woman was swimming behind her home in the waters of Boca Ciega Bay when a shark grabbed her.  Swimming only 10-12 yards from her own backyard dock she was attacked by a shark in the murky water."