A True Inspiration

All American Swim Supply recently had the chance to interview a motivational swimmer currently training to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Trials. 17-year-old Ryan Minks, who competes in swimming and wheel chair racing, says, "Pain is for the moment, and winning is forever." In August of 1992, Ryan was born with spina bifida, and his parents were told that he would never sit up on his own, crawl, or walk. But Ryan's determination has led him to beat the odds, and he now competes in track and field and swimming. Ryan says that his parents have been the most influential force in his life. "They both encourage me and have instilled in me that I can accomplish anything that I set my mind to. They are my support team."

As a competitive swimmer, Ryan practices about 5-6 hours a week with the Memphis Tigers at the University of Memphis. His favorite thing about being an athlete, he says, "are the competitions and the recognition for the hard work that you put into it." His most memorable moment is winning gold at the National Junior Disability Championships in the 50 breast and 200 free. Ryan's favorite event is the backstroke, and he would love to meet Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, given the chance, "because he is a great competitor in backstroke events."

To learn more about Ryan's story and the events he competes in, visit Ryan's website. To help support Ryan and his efforts to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Trials, visit Wheelchair Sports, USA.

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New from Speedo: Speedo Male Endurance Jammers $37.99!

Age is Just A Number

12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres is still swimming fast and beating the competition at age 42. Last year, Torres won three silver medals in Beijing. For her, age is just a number, not an obstacle. She writes about her triumphs in her appropriately titled new book, "Age Is Just A Number: Achieve Your Dreams At Any Stage In Your Life." Torres is also considering swimming in the 2012 Olympics in London. For more on her story go to yahoo!news.

Fitter & Faster Tour Kicks Off This Weekend!

All American Swim Supply is proud to be a sponsor of the 2009 Fitter and Faster Tour! The Fitter & Faster Tour, which will bring olympians and world championship swimmers to pools across America, will begin Saturday, August 15th in Seattle, WA.

The tour will give fans a chance to interact with world-class athletes who will travel all over the nation to bring stroke and exercise tips to swimmers. Each event includes a 3-hour clinic for age-group swimmers and masters swimmers. Swimmers participating in the tour will receive tips on race preparation, hear motivational stories, and participate in question and answer sessions. In addition, all participants will receive 20% off one full-price item from SpeedoUSA.com.

Now is the time, so sign up quickly! For more on the tour click here.

2009 Speedo Junior National Championships

The 2009 Speedo Junior National Championships began yesterday and will run through Friday, August 14th. The event is being held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. For live on-demand video of the competition go to swim-network.com. For the heat sheet, timeline, and results go to usaswimming.org. Good luck to all of our swimmers from Raleigh, NC!

Sticking With Speedo

Britain's Gemma Spofforth believes wearing a Speedo LZR Racer helped her win the 100m backstroke title at the World Championships in Rome. Spofforth decided to stick with her Speedo suit, just as Michael Phelps famously did when he won the 100m butterfly at World Championships. Her decision not to wear a "supersuit" like the Jaked, or Arena X-Glide Suit mentally propelled her to finish first. Spofforth set a new world record of 58.12seconds in the 100m backstroke.

Spofforth stated, "I had so many meetings with different coaches saying I was putting myself at a disadvantage not wearing it and wearing it wasn't cheating.

"And it was about putting myself on the same level as everybody else I was racing against.

"And I was like 'if I get a world record in a suit is that really a world record?' That was one of my things.

Nearly 190 world records have been set since the Speedo LZR became available in February 2008, 43 world records have been broken in Rome alone.

sportinglife.com

Jessica Hardy is Back!

After being banned from competition for failing a drug test at the 2008 Olympic trials, Jessica Hardy is back in the water and ready to compete. Hardy's one-year ban ended July 29th, just in time for her to be eligible to race in the U.S. Open.

All eyes were on Hardy as she competed in Wednesday's 100m freestyle. Hardy was nervous about the race stating "I haven't raced in a year. I feel like I don't even know what I'm doing. It's very frustrating." Despite her frustration, Hardy finished the race in 2nd place with a time of 55.07. Erika Erndl won the race in a meet-record 54.59.

"This is the first of many races to come. I made a lot of mistakes," she said. "I have a lot of stuff to improve, but I'm getting more comfortable and back to where I was last year. For me, I just need to mentally get back. For me, it's a mental rebirth, regrowth."

For more on Jessica Hardy and her return from suspension click here.

For news on her new world record in the 50m breast click here.

What's On the Horizon for Garrett McCaffrey?

Check out Garrett McCaffrey's new website Swim Pulse for the latest in swimming news and events, including coverage from Rome. In his blog, "On the Horizon...," McCaffrey talks about his love of swimming, his opinion on suit wars, and how he is devoted to bringing swim fans the latest and most accurate swimming news.

Help support Swim Pulse by buying your own Swim Pulse T-Shirt. Purchasing a T-Shirt is a great way to show your support for Swim Pulse, as a portion of your purchase will go directly to help fund the site! Shirts are going fast, so make sure to purchase yours today!

Team USA Receives 22 Medals in Rome

At the closing of Sunday's session, Team USA finished World Champs with the highest honor of all by receiving the FINA trophy as the top national team of the meet. Overall, Team USA lead all countries in both gold medals and total medal count.

The men's 400m medley relay broke a world record Sunday night with a time of 3:27.28. In addition, three other world records were broken in Sunday's finals. Overall, 42 world records and 23 American records were set over the course of the meet. For more on Team USA and the closing of worlds visit usaswimming.org.

Cavic Offers to Buy Phelps A Suit

After hearing about Michael Phelps’ complaints about the supposedly second-rate Speedo LZR Racer, Serbian Milorad Cavic has offered to buy Michael Phelps a more elite technical suit to even out the playing field. Cavic wears the Arena X-Glide, and has commented that Michael Phelps has a choice to pick whatever suit he wants to race in. The X-Glide is considered to be one of the fastest suits at the World Championships.

“I know he’s making a lot of money from Speedo,” Cavic said. “It’s loyalty. But throughout all my experiences, I’ve learned this—free will is a gift with a price tag, and whatever you choose to do you’re going to pay, but how much you’re going to pay is really dependent on you.”

Cavic shattered Phelps’ record at the semifinals on Friday, knocking off Phelps’ world record, and finishing the race in less than 50 seconds. Phelps came in second at 50.48.

Cavic’s comments show the intense rivalry between the two competitors that goes back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Phelps won by a hundredth of a second in Bejiing, but today we will see who will take Gold for the 100m butterfly in Rome.

Check out all of world records that have been broken at the World Championships. For more on this topic go to Yahoo! Sports.

FINA Reaches A Decision

Re-Post from fina.org:

On its first meeting held today in Rome (ITA), the 2009-2013 FINA Bureau fully complied with the decision of the FINA Congress, held on July 24, 2009 related with the procedure concerning swimwear approval. As it was also decided by the Congress, these rules are now By-Laws rules, which allow the Bureau to further control, update and correct any deviation to the process or to proceed with any necessary adjustment related to the development of the swimsuit technology.

The FINA Bureau decisions on swimsuits include:

MATERIAL – The material of the swimsuits will definitively be constituted only by textile fabric(s). The definition of “textile” will be made by a group of scientific experts chosen by FINA and led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne (SUI). This definition will be available to manufacturers by no later than September 30, 2009. The first definition of “textile” to be further confirmed by this group is: “Material consisting of, natural and/or synthetic, individual and non consolidated yarns used to constitute a fabric by weaving, knitting, and/or braiding.”

SHAPE – For men, the swimsuit shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below knee. Furthermore, no zippers or other fastening system is allowed.

USE – In the regulation approved by the Congress, the swimmer can only wear one swimsuit and no taping is allowed.

TESTS – Only measurable scientific tests will be performed within the frame of the swimwear approval procedure. For thickness, the 1mm limit will be adjusted to 0.8mm, for buoyancy the present value of 1 Newton will be reduced to 0.5 (FINA will even consider the limit of 0 Newton), and for permeability the material(s) used must have at any point a value of more than 80l/m2/second. Permeability values are measured on material with a standard multidirectional stretch of 25%. These parameters will be further considered by the above mentioned scientific group.

CONSISTENCY – Swimsuits effectively manufactured and used shall correspond to and be fully consistent with submitted samples. Any modification before use (including impregnation) is prohibited. Moreover, there shall be no variation/modification for individual swimmers.

APPLICATION – Considering the time needed for manufacturers to produce their swimsuits, the submission dates and the implementation of the rules are applicable from 2010 only in Swimming competitions.

In addition to these decisions, the FINA Bureau also approved the new FINA Committees and Commissions for the period 2009-2013.

Finally, it was also established that the Diving Qualification event for the 1st Youth Olympic Games (August 2010 in Singapore) will be held in Mexico City (MEX), in April 2010.

Check Your Swim Pulse

Garrett McCaffrey, formally of Floswimming.com, is checking the Swim Pulse of the swimming community! McCaffrey has created Swimpulse.net which is your source for everything swimming. Visit the site for up to date swimming news, blogs, and videos. Check out the daily Rapid Roma Recap for the latest on the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome.

Show your support for Swim Pulse by sporting your own Swim Pulse T-Shirt. Swim Pulse shirts are sold exclusively through All American Swim. All purchases will directly fund the development of Swim Pulse. Get your shirt quickly, they are going fast!

Were You Beaten by the Suit or the Swimmer?

When asked by the BBC if he was beaten by the suit or the swimmer, Michael Phelps replied: the swimmer. After a great deal of controversy over the usage of tech suits during the FINA World Championships, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps believes it is the swimmer, and not technology that handed him the loss in the Men’s 200 Free. Paul Biedermann of Germany received the Gold in the Men’s 200 Free; handing Michael Phelps his first major loss in four years.

After the race, Phelps stated that Biedermann “split that race pretty much perfectly. He closed really, really well and had the better race tonight. He’s had two great swims, and he’s having a great meet.” Even so, Coach Bob Bowman suggested that he may pull Phelps from future FINA-sanctioned meets if rules on technical suits are not instated. To which Phelps replied, “It’s his decision, Bob chooses the meets I swim in.”

More on swimnetwork.com

Breaking Records in Rome

After being a last minute addition to the US Team, Ariana Kukors earned the Gold for the women's 200 IM in the second night of the FINA World Championships. Kukors shattered the world record touching in 2:06.15, winning the second medal of the meet so far for the United States. The previous world record for the women's 200 IM was 2:07.03. Kukors impressive win was only 88-hundredths of a second faster than the previous world record. For more world records in Rome follow this link.

Team USA Takes Gold at Worlds

This past Sunday, Team USA took home the gold medal in the men's 400m free relay at the 2009 FINA World Championships. The United States set a meet record with a time of 3:09.21. With a shocking victory, the US touched only 31-hundredths of a seconds faster than Russia. France, who were projected by some to take first place, finished third. Team USA had a great start off to Worlds, click HERE to watch the competitions continue today! To read more about Team USA's victory, visit USA Swimming's website.

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"Suit Wars" Continue on the Eve of Worlds

The United States World Championship team will begin competition tomorrow at the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy. This weekend, suit controversies will continue to thrive after FINA's July 24th rulings. New changes will be coming in 2010, but for now here are a few perspectives on what's to come with the "suit wars:"

Rocket Science Sports offers an interesting perspective on their blog.

Craig Lord discusses Speedo's take on SwimNews.com.

Crippen Takes Bronze

The results of the Men's Open Water 10K at World Championships are in. After much protest over the finish of Crippen on Wednesday, the Jury D'Appel ruled in favor of Crippen today. Andrew Gemmell received the silver medal, and Fran Crippen earned the bronze medal. For more details, follow the story on USA Swimming.

Phelps vs......Shaq?

Michael Phelps will be swimming against...Shaq in a new reality series on ABC entitled "Shaq Vs." Shaquille O'Neal will be facing some of sports biggest competitors in their own field. The new hour long series begins August 18th at 9pm. Shaq will be competing against athletes like Michael Phelps, Ben Roethlisberger, and Oscar De La Hoya.

When In Rome

Who will win the men's 400m free relay at Worlds? Swimnetwork discusses which nation is most likely to take the Gold. Find out out the USA team fairs. And while you're at it, find out how much you know about swimming in Rome by taking the Rome Swimming Quiz!

Open Water in Rome

Open Water expert Steve Munatones discusses ten questions that will be answered in Rome for open water swimmers. Munatones reports that Fran Crippen has confirmed the arrival of the USA Swimming national open water team in Rome yesterday. The USA Swimming national open water team will compete in the 2009 Swimming World Champs in Rome, Italy (July 17-Aug 2). Universal Sports will be covering the event live.

US Masters Goal Setting

With US Masters Long Course Meters Nationals right around the corner (August 6th-10th in Indianapolis, Indiana) Chris Colburn, Chair of the U.S. Masters Swimming Coaches Committee, blogs about Goal Setting for Masters Swimmers. Goal setting is important for all swimmers. In his blog on swimnetwork, Coach Chris offers tips on how swimmers can set achievable goals.

Phelps' Precautionary Scratch

Michael Phelps and Coach Bob Bowman discuss why Phelps opted out of the men's 100m freestyle.

All Great Racers go to Indy

Great things are happening in Indy. Yesterday, Aaron Peirsol broke the world record for Men's 100m backstroke with a time of 51.94 seconds. For the unofficial world champs team list and live coverage on the 2009 Conoco Phillips National Championships and World Trials click here. For interesting articles and photos from the event click here.

Gearing Up for Indy

Next week, the 2009 National Championships & World Championship Trials will take place July 7-11 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 5-day event will be held at the renowned Indiana University Natatorium. There has been a lot of buzz on what's expected to happen at the Natatorium. One hot topic is swimsuit evaluations, which will be implemented for all swimmers prior to racing.

For more coverage on the event, follow this link for Swimnetwork's coverage on questions to be answered at Indy. For Chris DeSantis' blog on World Champs Trials Preview click here. One thing's for sure: next week will be an exciting week in the swimming world!

Back to Omaha

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Swimming) will be held in Omaha,NE in 2012. Because of the success of the trials in 2008, Omaha has been chosen again to host the Olympic Team Trials. The trials will be held in a temporary indoor pool at Qwest Center Omaha from June 25th-July 2nd. For more information follow this link!

Fitter & Faster 2009

Check out Swim Champions' Fitter & Faster Tour! The tour, which benefits the USA Swimming Foundation, includes Olympic swimmers, who will travel all over the nation to bring stroke and exercise tips to swimmers. Each event includes a 3-hour clinic for age-group swimmers and masters swimmers. Sign up now!

New Hawke Talk: Suit Stress

Coach Brett Hawke talks about the latest generation of fast suits, and how many think these suits give unfair benefits to swimmers. He offers his opinion and discusses a particular time when he learned an important lesson. Click here to view and comment on Hawke Talk: Suit Stress.

Swim Quick and Help Find A Cure for Cancer

Swim Quick is a program developed by the Swim Across America Richard Quick Endowment. Coach Richard Quick was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and developed Swim Quick to help support cancer research. Swim Quick is dedicated to raising awareness about cancer research, and prevention through swimming. Sadly, Coach Richard Quick lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009. In Quick's honor, Swim Quick continues to raise money to find a cure for cancer. To learn more about this program, or to make a donation, visit Swim Across America's Swim Quick web page.

Topping Point

Check out Topping Point, a film about an Olympic swimmer facing hardship as the United States suffers a second Great Depression. The short version of Topping Point is now available on floswimming.org. Follow the development of the feature-length film on facebook.

FINA approves Blueseventy Suit

FINA approves Blueseventy's NERO competition suit! Click here to read more about the suit, or click to purchase your own.

Check Out Hawke Talk!

All American Swim proudly presents Hawke Talk with Coach Brett Hawke of Auburn University. Tune in to hear Brett talk about swimming tips, coaching, and other fascinating stories!