Lochte, Phelps, Coughlin Lead Golden Goggles Nominations
WRITTEN BY SHARON ROBB
October 21, 2010
Floridian Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin lead the nominations for the Golden Goggle Awards.
The trio each earned four nominations for USA Swimming’s top performances of 2010.
Lochte of Daytona Beach, Phelps and Nathan Adrian were nominated for Male Athlete of the Year.
Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer and Elizabeth Beisel were nominated for Female Athlete of the Year.
Phelps, Lochte and Coughlin each had two individual nominations and two relay nominations.
Amanda Beard, Tyler Clary, Jessica Hardy and Kate Ziegler are nominees for the Perseverance Award, given to a swimmer who came back from injury, adversity or retirement.
Breakout Performer of the Year nominees are Teresa Crippen, Eva Fabian, Missy Franklin and David Plummer.
The awards ceremony will be held Nov. 22 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The awards serve as a fundraiser for the USA Swimming Foundation.
Fans can vote for the winners online through Nov. 19 at www.goldengoggles.com.
BOUSQUET OVER-THE-COUNTER MISTAKE PROMPTS TWO-MONTH BAN
French Olympian Frederick Bousquet, the reigning European 50-meter freestyle champion, is in the midst of serving a two-month doping ban after testing positive for a banned stimulant. Bousquet tested positive for heptaminol in a June 13 drug test during the Canet swim meet, part of the Mare Nostrum Series in Europe. Bousquet said he took an over-the-counter medicine with the substance to treat a severe case of hemorrhoids for which he has had “for the past eight years.” He told French officials that he usually takes a medicine which does not contain the substance but when he had a painful flareup before the meet he went to a pharmacy where he was given the medicine but failed to read the label ingredients. The French Swimming Federation suspended him on Sept. 20 which means he will be eligible to return for the French National Championships in December.
U.S. WOMEN’S WATER POLO TEAM POSES NAKED
This may be one way to get women’s water polo publicity. Twelve members of the U.S. women’s water polo team posed nude for the second annual ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue which is out on newsstands now. The photo leaves little to the imagination. Several players said they wanted to disprove the stereotype of women’s water polo players as being overly muscular and masculine. A photo of all 12 players appears on one of the magazine’s six covers. Two other shots are used inside the magazine including an underwater photo….The U.S. men’s water polo players were a little more modest posing in swim suits for their fundraising 2011 National Team Calendar. The proceeds will fund training for the 2012 London Olympics. All 16 current team members are featured in the calendar and on the cover. It can be found at Barnes and Noble, amazon.com or usawaterpolo.com.
NYAD CALLS OFF CUBA SWIM
Marathon swimmer Diana Nyad was forced to postpone her attempt to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, a 102-mile swim that has been in the making for 30 years. Nyad announced her decision on October 16th on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. For most of the summer, Nyad, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale and trained at Pine Crest, was waiting for government approval from both the United States and Cuba. But weather conditions worsened delaying the swim and eventually cancelling it. She plans to make the attempt again in July 2011. She will be age 61. Nyad last tried in 1978 when she was thrown off course by strong currents and was forced to stop. “It seems forever but it will go by quickly,” Nyad told Gupta…
The final race of the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup 2010 is Saturday, October 23 in United Emirates. Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha won the last series stop in Cancun in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 29 seconds to lead the women’s series rankings. American Francis Crippen won the men’s race in 2:07:53. South African Chad Ho leads the men’s series.
RECORDS FALL AT ARENA WORLD CUP
Brazilian Thiago Pereira and Therese Alshammar of Sweden remain in the lead of the overall rankings for the FINA Arena Swimming World Cup after a successful fourth stop in Tokyo, Japan.
Pereira won the 100- and 400-meter individual medley, 52.84 and 4:04.03 and was the fourth best performer of the meet. He leads the men’s point standings with 88 points.
Alshammar won the 50- and 100-meter butterfly, 25.27 and 56.12, established the most valuable performance of the meet in the 100 and leads the World Cup rankings with 80 points.
In addition to Pereira’s two wins, Australia’s Kyle Richardson won the 50- and 100-meter freestyle, 21.42, 47.26; South Africa’s Roland Schoeman in the 50 breaststroke, 26.42 and 50 butterfly, 22.56; American Peter Marshall in the 100 backstroke, 50.94, Germany’s Steffen Deibler in the 100 butterfly, 50.43 and Austria’s Markus Rogan in the 200 individual medley, 1:53.85.
In the women’s competition, the U.S. won four gold medals, two by Julia Smit in the 200 IM (2:08.05) and 400 IM (4:27.70), one each by Jessica Hardy in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.85) and Elaine Breeden in the 100 butterfly (2:04.54). Sweden’s Jennie Johansson won the 50 breaststroke, Hinkelien Schreuder of the Netherlands won the 50 freestyle and Austria’s Marieke Guehrer won the 100 freestyle.
Japan was impressive in front of its home crowd winning eight gold medals.
Naoya Tomita (2:03.18 200 breaststroke), Takeshi Matsuda (1:50.64 200 butterfly, fastest ever in a textile suit), Tomoko Hagiwara set national records on the opening day of the World Cup. Matsuda had the best performance in the 200-meter butterfly in 1:50.64. Aya Terakawa won the most valuable performance in the 200 backstroke in 2:03.62.
The last three meets of the World Cup now travel to Europe, Oct. 30-31 in Berlin, Nov. 2-3 in Moscow and Nov. 6-7 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com.
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