Results tagged “swimming”

A 59-year-old man died shortly after beginning the annual Brooklyn Bridge Swim in the East River. Richard Harley, a 59-year-old California resident, apparently started having problems a few minutes into the 1K swim. Newsday reports that the race began 9:45 a.m, "He was pronounced dead at Downtown Beekman Hospital at 10:10 a.m." NYC Swim's Monty Berger said that kayakers, boaters, emergency personnel and even another swimmer were trying to save him. The swimmer, Melody Baglione, told the Daily News she saw him floating near the South Street Seaport, "He was definitely unconscious," and tried to give him CPR. Harley was raising money for a girls' school in Kenya. Berger said Harley had been recently certified with swimming 3.3K in 54 minutes, "This guy wasn't slow. For his age, he had some nice speed... I am saddened this happened. We work really hard to put on these events for people from around the world. This is not how you want to this to end up."

Yesterday, a number of beaches, including Coney Island and Manhattan Beach, were closed after concerns that raw sewage, which overflowed from a sewage plant, had contaminated the water. But one beachgoer at Coney Island ignored the many announcements and actually decided on a swim—only to be "cited for failing to comply with an officer" (the Daily News also has a photo of him being restrained from possibly heading back to the water). Others were disappointed, telling the Daily News, "We were looking forward to this day all week. It takes two hours to get here from the Bronx. The water looks okay to me," and "In New York, they exaggerate. They see a mosquito flying near the water, and they make a big deal." Beaches are reopening, but swimming is not allowed.

It may be cooler today, but with the heat sure to return and McCarren Park Pool renovations not set to be done until 2011, what's a sweltering Williamsburg hipster to do? Kiddie pools are barely even ironic anymore, but perhaps a dip in the stagnant mud water of a future luxury condo would cool you down. Restless points out two such swimmin' holes, one on the North Side and one on the South, and both likely "chock full of heavy metal mineral bath goodness." And look, barely any flies!

      

Yesterday the Chinese Winter Swimming Delegation met up with the Coney Island Polar Bears for a little swim, the first international dip for the locals. The group was contacted by the Chinese swimmers when they heard they were the oldest winter bathing club in the States, and asked if they would host them. One big difference: the out-of-towners are real deal cold water swimmers, who do long swims year round. However, one Polar Bear who expected for their guests to swim laps around them said, "They hit the water and were out in a matter of minutes. Maybe under 5? And the CIPBC stayed in for their usual 10 minutes."

There are some really cute quotes from kids who got to swim with Michael Phelps at the McBurney YMCA yesterday. A little girl who told the Sun that Phelps is "the fastest swimmer in the world" said of her own speed, "I don't swim fast or slow — I'm just medium." The NY Times overheard children saying, “I want to ask him if he can make more medals, really" and “He was like a person who was as great at swimming as a shark" while an instructor said, “This made, like, all of our years.” Phelps himself informed reporters he had a snack before the press conference (he was presenting a check from Visa to the Y's youth swimming programs), "How much more American can you get than having a hot dog, drink and a pretzel?"

     

Michael Phelps, 14-gold medal Olympian and future SNL host, was at the McBurney YMCA earlier today to encourage swimming at a young age. He helped present a $20,000 check from Visa to the YMCA of Greater New York. The money will go to expanding its aquatic facilities in Brooklyn and Queens as well as its 2nd Grade Swim program.

       

Wow. Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal in these Beijing Olympics with a 0.01 of a second edge over Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 meter butterfly, with a time of 50.58 (not a world record, but an Olympic record and a personal best). Phelps is now tied with Mark Spitz for having won the the most gold medals--seven--in one Olympics.

After setting yet another world record last night in the 200m freestyle, swimmer Michael Phelps racked up his third gold medal at these Beijing Olympics. And he has two finals, the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, which will air tonight in the United States--the 200m fly at 10:18 p.m., the 4x200m relay at 11:16 p.m.

     

At the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, the U.S. men's swimming team for the 4x100m freestyle relay provided a stirring, come-from-behind win over France in the final moments of the race. While Michael Phelps, who won the 400m individual medley already, is still on track to win eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the real story was the relay's anchor leg swimmer, Jason Lezak.

Newsday called yesterday a "deadly day for the Island's ocean beaches," given two people drowned and two are still missing after being dragged into the waters. Two men went missing off Jacob Riis Park in Queens; one 21-year-old was rescued by divers, bu a 23-year-old is still missing. At Long Beach, 18-year-old and 22-year-old cousins were swept out; the older cousin was rescued but later died while the younger is still missing. And 25-year-old man drowned off Southampton. The Coast Guard said "riptides were particularly strong [yesterday]," and a meteorologist told Newsday, "If you become caught in a rip current, stay calm and don't fight it. Swim parallel to the shore until you break free from the current," and when you're out, swim at an angle towards the beach, "A lot of people panic. You should float or tread water."