Tuesday's Swim Report - Now Hiring Mermaids!

Lane 1 - The Washington Post has "Governing body of swimming, UK Anti-Doping agree to share data on athletes.  Swimming’s world governing body and Britain’s anti-doping agency have signed an agreement to share information on athlete’s blood profiles before the London Olympics.  FINA and UK Anti-Doping will use information from the biological passport program that monitors changes in an athlete’s blood profile that may indicate doping."

Lane 2 - Bloomberg BW posts "Odd Jobs: Professional Mermaid.  The worst part about being a mermaid, according to Staycy McConnell, a 31 year-old full-time mermaid performer at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Florida, is all the swimming.  It may sound like a contradiction — not liking to swim when you’re a mermaid is like being a tax accountant who’s annoyed by math — but the job requires more time underwater than even the most skilled swimmer would be comfortable with. The Florida air is usually warm, but the temperature in the Weeki Wachee freshwater springs, where McConnell performs with her fellow mermaids for packed houses three times a day, seven days a week, is usually in the low 70s. (The U.S. Water Fitness Association claims that the ideal water temperature for adults is between 85 and 89 degrees.) “If you’re not one who really likes cold water, it can be pretty miserable,” says McConnell. “Especially when you’re down there 30 to 45 minutes at a time.” Which just so happens to be the length of an average mermaid show."

Lane 3 - The Huffington Post has Amanda Beard pen "In The Water, They Can't See You Cry.  A year after the 1996 Olympics, I ranked twenty-third in the world in the 100-meter breaststroke and twenty-sixth in the 200-meter.  My parents did their best to shelter me from the unanimous criticism of public opinion. I didn't need anyone to tell me how bad I stunk; I knew that already. The harsh numbers of my ranking told the whole story. At least that's what I thought until I got acquainted with a whole new kind of low."  Beard also posts "Chasing 5: The Road to London" via youtube

Lane 4 - Barry & District News posts "Barry Olympic swimmer David Davies teaches special class to British Airways staff!  TWO-time Olympic medallist and qualifier for the London 2012 Olympic Games, David Davies, taught a special swim class for British Airways staff at Imperial College, London."

Lane 5 - BBC posts "Extreme swimmer Anna Wardley sets island challenge.  An endurance swimmer from Hampshire is embarking on a charity challenge around five islands in five months.  Anna Wardley, 36, from Gosport, is planning to swim around Jersey, the Isle of Wight and Portsea Island."

Lane 6 - Slowtwitch reviews "blueseventy Helix.  The 2012 blueseventy Helix is a suit redesigned from last year. Which surprised me because, honestly, the 2011 Helix was in the upper echelon of all fullsuits I tested in the water (about 10 or 12) during 2011. I could not conceive of much in the 2011 version I'd want to change."

Lane 7 - The Telegraph posts "London 2012 Olympics: Nick D'Arcy is my favourite for 'most hated' tag at Games.  Take one drunk swimmer with a violent right hook, madly celebrating selection in an Olympic team. Seconds later he hits another former star swimmer leaving him unconscious on the floor with a face so broken it will end up taking years, and a painful series of operations for him to talk and eat properly.  That alcohol-fuelled thug is now heading to London for the 2012 Olympic Games, and since the scandal surrounding the knee-capping of Nancy Kerrigan conspired by the then husband of her rival Tonya Harding at the 1994 winter Olympics, there hasn't been an Olympic villain so maligned.  Step up and collect the most-hated tag, Nick D'Arcy."

Lane 8 - Ram  Cigar posts "Swimming coach reflects on 39 years in URI athletics.  It’s all about who you know and for Mick Westkott this holds truer than for others. Thanks to a friend of a friend, Westkott landed a part time position at the University of Rhode Island. Westkott saw that part time position expand into a 39-year journey as the only head coach of varsity swimming at the school.  “It’s so much different now than it used to be. Not only here, but in swimming and intercollegiate athletics than it was back when they started,” Westkott said of the programs at URI."