Sunday's Swim Report - One Day We'll All Live Underwater

Lane 1 - The Courier posts "Revived Stephanie Rice back on track after Quade Cooper break-up.  STEPHANIE Rice has declared her life is finally on track after a tumultuous period in and out of the pool.  The triple Olympic champion candidly spoke about minor shoulder surgery, why she chose to break off her relationship with Wallaby rugby bad boy Quade Cooper, and reports she would retire after London."

Lane 2 - The Daily Telegraph posts "Eamon Sullivan nearly drowned as a toddler, now teaches kids about water safety.  HE is one of the world's top swimmers with a real chance of

winning gold at the London Oympics later this year.  But Eamon Sullivan could so easily have become just another drowning statistic when, as a toddler, he accidentally rode his bike into his family's backyard pool.  Sullivan, who donated his $50,000 Celebrity MasterChef winnings to Royal Life Saving, supports The Daily Telegraph's campaign to have certified CPR training in all schools and said water safety and swimming lessons were crucial."

Lane 3 - We Are Austin has (w/video) "Texas Ex Brendan Hansen on the comeback trail.  In the swimming world, it takes a lot to make a splash.  Right now, comeback stories on the pool deck are as common as goggles and speedos.  Brendan Hansen is the exception.  or Hansen, it took stepping away from the sport and removing his goggles in order to clearly see what's truly in the water."  More from We Are Austin with "Adam's Blog: Perspective in the Pool.  Even Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries think Brendan Hanson's retirement was brief.  The Texas Ex hung up his goggles after the 2008 Olympics.  However, less than three years after his final race (the 400 medley relay in which Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal), Hansen was back in the pool.  But he dove back in with an entirely different attitude."

Lane 4 - Reuters posts "Swimming-Japan unveil 'new Kitajima' for London Olympics.   Japan have unveiled 17-year-old swimmer Akihiro Yamaguchi, labelling him the 'next Kosuke Kitajima' and predicting he could make a big splash at this year's London Olympics.  The raw teen, who has won a world junior title in the 200 metres breaststroke, has even bolder targets for London, telling the Nikkan Sports newspaper on Sunday: "I plan to win gold."  Like his hero Kitajima, who stormed to the 100 and 200 breaststroke double at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Games, Yamaguchi is not short of self-belief."

Lane 5 - The Sydney Morning Herald posts "Thorpe shows some promise in comeback bid.  Nearly a year after announcing he was coming out of retirement, Ian Thorpe now has two months to get his comeback right.  Thorpe flies back to his training base in Switzerland on Tuesday via a few days in the sun in Tenerife to put the final touches on his hurried campaign to make an impression at Australia's Olympic selection trials in March.  Even he conceded he might have left his run too late when he failed to make the final of the 100m freestyle at the Victorian state swimming championships on Friday, but his performance in the 200m on Saturday gave him, and national head coach Leigh Nugent, some hope."

Lane 6 - Omaha.com posts "Swim Trials seek even bigger splash.  Omaha made a huge splash in hosting the 2008 meet. Four years later, the fast lane to the Olympics once again runs through Omaha, as the Trials for the 2012 London Games come to the CenturyLink Center June 25 to July 2.  Now that the calendar has turned to the Olympic year, local organizers and USA Swimming say they're working to make this year's meet even better.  Officials with USA Swimming and the Omaha Sports Commission, the event's local host, are confident the crowds will be bigger, too. Ticket sales are running a little ahead of 2008, when the meet drew a record 160,003 over eight days.  Once again, the competition figures to feature some compelling story lines."

Lane 7 - SF Luxe posts "Nathan Adrian: Breaking Down and Building Up – USA Swimming.  Even though he doesn’t suffer through the expectations, Nathan Adrian acknowledges they exist.  When Gary Hall Jr. baptized him as the future of U.S. sprinting at the 2008 Olympic Trials – where the Seattle native made the first of what should be several Olympic teams – Adrian was branded…but in a good way.  Ever since, he’s tried to live up to his mentor’s prognostication and admits it hasn’t always been easy – and he still has work to do to reach his own personal goals."

Lane 8 - Discovery posts "Underwater City: A Lifesaver or Titanic Failure?  When the idea emerged in 2008, environmentalists balked. So did reasonable people everywhere. Dutch architect Moshé Zwarts suggested draining Amsterdam's canals, building an enormous parking and entertainment complex under the city, and then refilling the canals. Presto! More space!  Granted, Amsterdam did -- and does -- have little space to spare, but the project would have cost an estimated $14.4 billion. Not to mention the tiny problem of exhaust buildup. And logistics. Mercifully the idea was back-burnered. Zwarts' architectural firm returned to making futuristic designs for structures like bridges, bus stations and viaducts."

I apologize for any formatting issues as Typepad is having issues with Firefox for the last few days in posting and various behind the scenes stuff.  - Joel