High up in the IU Natatorium, that is! HA!

At the end of prelims, the oh-so-wonderful Peter Bick escorted us waaaaay up to the catwalk in the natatorium. It’s pretty much like the rafters. It was so hot and humid up there, but really cool! Check out our latest Swim Aid adventures.

P.S. If you’re here visiting to check and see if we’re posting copyrighted material (e.g. video), you’re wasting your time. We know what we are and aren’t allowed to use, so no need to police our site and be fun ruiners. We’re credentialed media for a reason. kthanx.

So we’re sure you’re all well aware that we like pointing when other mess up. It makes us feel better about our own shortcomings. So now it’s time to point out another goof:

After all the blazing times being posted at the Pan Ams, I wandered over to the FINA site to see how some of those swims stacked up against the current world rankings. Then I happened upon the men’s 400 Free rankings. FINA thinks that Alex Vanderkaay competed at Worlds and then Pete took over at Duel in the Pool. While we would have enjoyed seeing AVK compete at Worlds, it did not happen. So the 6th and 7th fastest times in the world this year both belong to PVK. Oh FINA!

P.S. There’ll be no more CVK posts around here. We just found out that he’s a hater. Can you believe that? Who knew?! We’re watching you, CVK! Be afraid. Be very afraid!

When I received the latest USA Swimming Media Release in my inbox yesterday, I literally thought I had lost my mind. Why? Because of the following passage:

Rio-Bound: California’s own Olympic gold-medalist Kaitlin Sandeno will be in Santa Clara to prepare for an immediate challenge as she winds down her training for the upcoming Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 14-21). The Californian returns to her home state to compete against a stacked field just weeks before departing for South America.

I could have sworn that K-Dawg was swimming at the World University Games in August. But this release had me thinking “Hey, maybe they switched her to the Pan-Am squad?” Yea, not the case.

A quick email to Kaitlin cleared everything up and I am not losing my mind after all! She is going to Bangkok for WUGs, not Rio for Pan Ams. Sheesh!

In addition to that little mess-up, the release also said that the Santa Clara meet was the 4th stop on the 2007 Toyota Grand Prix circuit. It is not. It is the 5th. Oy vey.

Can someone please go to NYC and persuade Sara Hunninghake to come back? USA Swimming desperately needs her!

A Vanderkaay named Peter has many nicknames. We’ve heard PVK, Big P, and Vander in addition to the ones we’ve given him such as Jesus and Cracker (loonnnng story that we’re not going to share). But Vandy is a new one to us.

After PVK wrecked shop in Canet, WCSN put up a link to his meet record-setting performance in the 400 Free under the heading “Vandy Breaks Record”. The link also appeared on the live video window. I’ll be honest, after watching a good portion of the 2nd day of action (and staring at the links on the side), it finally dawned on me that Vandy = Vanderkaay. Then I rolled my eyes.

Is it that WCSN feels so comfortable with Pete in all his Vanderness to give him a nickname? Or has he finally crossed over into the big leagues where the masses need a new & fun name to refer to him as? My vote is for neither of these scenarios. Someone just thought they were being cute. Yea, that’s our job!

It wouldn’t have taken that much more space in the layout for them to spell out Vanderkaay. And I’m certain I wasn’t alone when I exclaimed:

Vandy? Who the hell is Vandy?

Today, I read a fantastic new article from the South Florida Sun Sentinel on our resident BAMF, Dara Torres. Everything was going swimmingly (pun intended) and then I read the following few lines:

“Why am I doing this? Because I can,” said Torres, who started training seriously in August. “There are people who come up to me and say they don’t understand why I am doing this — why don’t I let the young ones get their glory?

Are there seriously people out there that believe Dara should let the young’uns have their turn? These might be the same people that think that Mikey P. shouldn’t compete in money meets, because “other people need the money more”. Using this logic, perhaps the US 800 Free Relay should just not race in Beijing. After all, they’ve won every major race the past 3 years. It has to be someone else’s time to shine, right?

I’m sorry. I was unaware that previously meeting one of your goals meant that you need to hang up the suit and move on. Isn’t the competitive spirit what drives athletes in the first place? The sense of accomplishment and ongoing motivation from swimming a best time or standing atop a medals podium is worked deeply into the psyche of swimmers from an early age. And as long as they still have the desire and dedication to compete and succeed, they should stick with it; especially if they are having fun! I just don’t buy the whole “step aside” argument. Neither does Dara.

But you know what? If I am faster than them, then I deserve to be on the team.

Swim on, Dara. Swim on.

Is this what went through Aaron and Amanda’s minds when they were asked to compete at the French Open EDF meet (which conflicts with the 2007 CP Summer Nationals)?

Swimming World Magazine was first to report that the event’s website is declaring that both Amanda and Aaron have signed on to compete there. It’s left many people wondering “why?”.

Tara Kirk referred to it as a “pretty awesome money meet” and revealed that she, too, had been invited to compete. FYI, Tara declined so that she can continue to work with her coach on her 200 Breast.

So is the allmighty dollar the motivation behind Aaron and Amanda’s decision? And how many other elite US swimmers may be lured over to France for the Open Meet?

If July 20-something rolls around — when we finally see the pysch sheet — and we see a large chunk of the National Team missing from it, there are going to be some mighty angry Swim Aids runnin’ loose. Y’all really don’t want to see that. It isn’t pretty. Best believe.

So now, we wait…

To be continued!

There’s been a lot of talk about Amanda Beard these days; mostly in regards to her upcoming Playboy cover. This post is not about that. Shocking, I know.

This post is pretty much directed at nay-sayers who feel that Amanda was just stringing the swimming community along with no intention of competing again. Many believe that she is simply using her fanbase to further her out-of-the-pool ambitions. Hopefully this weekend will be the first of many steps to silence her critics when she competes at the 2007 Speedo Grand Challenge. Yes, you read that correctly. Amanda will be back on the blocks in Irvine, CA.

The Swim Aids are oozing with envy at those who get to see her swim, and we remain hopeful that some kind soul will keep us in the loop as to what’s going on during the meet in addition to scoring some shots of Miss Beard.

Being the Swim Nerds that we are, I’m sure we’ll be hovering over the live Hy-Tek Results this weekend, seeing how Amanda does in her first meet back!