In what seems to have become a never-ending rotation of coaches around the country, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks have hired a new assistant in Laura Thomas. Thomas was a two-time NCAA All-American for Georgia in the 1980’s, and has done most of her coaching in that state, including founding both the Cobia Aquatic Club and the Swim Oconee Aquatic Club. Her biggest college experience was at Georgia, where she was an assistant under Harvey Humphries and coached with the Athens Bulldogs Swim Club. She was also part of a long line of academic superstars at UGA, having been a Rhodes Scholar nominee. This may not initially seem to be a super significant hire, but considering head coach Andy Johns’ recent run of hiring assistants who get hired at major programs, it’s something to keep an eye on. Jeane Fuccilo is now at LSU, Brian Smith is at Georgia, and Dave Rollins is at Ohio Sate..
…FINA has voted to add super-high diving to the lineup of events at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in the form of 27 meters for men and 18 meters for women. As compared to the current highest discipline, the 10-meter platform, this will be a huge upgrade in aeronautical atmospheres. The exact format of the competition is yet to be revealed, but a commission was formed in the spring, and they have apparently confirmed the addition of these events. Safety will obviously become of paramount concern with these events.
…In other news out of the convention, FINA has temporarily suspended the Ecudaor Swimming Federation due to government interference, meaning that their athletes will swim under the FINA flag for the time-being at FINA events. Ecuador was represented at the Olympics by three swimmers: Samantha Salinas, Ivan Ochoa, and Esteban Salgado. FINA also announced that mixed relays would be included in the World Junior Championships, beginning in 2013. They still have not announced, however, who might be the replacement host for that meet after it leaked earlier this year that Casablanca had backed out…
…France has announced the qualifying criteria for international competitions in 2013, which can be seen here. After mounting frustration, the French seem to have moved away, at least in part, from their system of mandating certain qualifying times in each round at the qualifying meets. Specifically, seniors just have to hit the FINA ‘A’ standard in finals to be qualified for the World Championships. At the qualifying meet, which will run from April 9th-14th, though, they’ve offered an additional qualifying path for younger swimmers. Women 18 & under, or men 20 & under, can qualify on modified standards (see 5.2 from link above) if they win an event, hit a “B” time in the prelims or semi-finals, and are under a “youth” standard in finals. That youth standard falls between the FINA ‘A’ and ‘B’ times. This should be a positive change that will help encourage youth development, especially on the women’s side of the pool where the ranks are much thinner than on the men’s…
And the winner of the 27 meter dive into a 8 oz cup…..Elmer Fudd !!!!! Silver medalist Yosemite Sam has declined his prize, disputing the ruling of the judge from Albequerque.
Where do you train for 18-meter and 27-meter diving events? Acapulco?
Before FINA adds these insanely ill-advised events, I’d love to see them fix open water swimming and the many other things they’ve botched.
This addition to diving is absurd. It was enough in creating Synchro diving. How many even go that high at present. It is for carnivals and circuses . Of course there are other crazy extreme sports working on getting in the Games. What will the sport do when it finally gets dropped from connection to swimming in NCAA’s?
I thought that hitting still water from 30m was like hitting concrete…
@ILSWIMCOACH It is more like hitting wet concrete! It is about time we see real high diving Woot Woot !
Waste of time. FINA needs to remodel sponsorship rules for elite professional athletes before worrying about gimmick high dives. Bush league. Do we want a professional sport or not?
Belly Flop! Belly Flop!
there should be a rule where anyone with the guts to belly flop from 27 meters automatically wins the competition
I wonder how many postumous awards will be released if a belly flop rule passes… hahaha