No Olympics: Kwan says she won't return to skating

For Michelle Kwan, more school has trumped more spirals.
Kwan announced Friday she will not try for a return to competitive skating and an attempt at making the 2010 Olympic team.

Goodbye Vancouver. Hello, Tufts University. The five-time world champion, who graduated from Denver University in June, plans to pursue for a master's degree in international affairs at the Boston-based school.

 

Despite the fervent hopes of her fans, Kwan's Olympic legacy is all but sealed at one 2002 bronze medal and one 1998 silver. She will go down in history as the sport's most popular and accomplished skater never to have won Olympic gold.

 

Credit Kwan, 29, for being OK with that and moving on with her life. Recently, she has taken trips as a State Department envoy, and traveled to Beijing during the 2008 Summer Games.

 

"Skating will always be a part of me,” Kwan told The Associated Press. “But in the bigger picture of my life, I have always wanted to find a career that will allow me to make a positive contribution and difference in the world. Representing the United States as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy the past three years has been very rewarding, and I want to do more. Furthering my education will bring me closer to that goal, and I don’t want to wait any longer to continue the journey.”

 

Kwan, the nine-time U.S. champion, tantalized her followers by returning to the ice early this year to train for a possible comeback attempt. Inspired by swimmer Dara Torres, who won three Olympic medals in Beijing last summer at age 41, Kwan raised hopes for a return to competition. She signed up to skate in Kim Yu-Na's charity ice show, set for next month in Korea.

 

That would have been her first on-ice appearance before an audience since 2006, the year she was named to the U.S. Olympic team. She withdrew from the Turin Games because of injury.

 

Unlike Sasha Cohen, who won 2006 Olympic silver and announced a comeback of her own after two years away from competition, Kwan would have had to qualify through regional competition to make the field for the U.S. championships, set for January in Spokane, Wash.

 

Now, new adventures await.

Olympic watchdog group asks UN to monitor rights during 2010 Games

An Olympic watchdog group is asking the United Nations to send human rights observers to the 2010 Winter Games.
The Impact on Communities Coalition haVGs also filed two new complaints to the UN over civil rights and housing in the hopes of finding a way to hold organizers accountable for the way the Olympics affect those two areas.
While the complaints won't be heard until after the Games, group spokesperson Am Johal says they could be used to open up a much-needed international dialogue.
"Our ultimate aim is to see a reform in the Olympic bid process. It's flawed from the front end and we tend to see a recurrence of the same pattern in the cities hosting these Games," he said in an interview from Geneva after filing the two complaints.
The group is concerned that tenancy laws are not strong enough to prevent people from being evicted from their homes to make way for Olympic tourists.
While the city of Vancouver has established a permit system for Games-time rentals that could thwart some of the problem, critics say there's no way to police it.
Meanwhile, the group is also concerned that the confluence of Olympic-related city bylaws and rules the organizing committee has at venues will sharply curtail the right of free speech. Activists are also claiming they are being harassed by police who are seeking to meet with them to discuss protest plans for the Games.
The presence of observers could allow the Games to be a true case study for how an Olympics affects a community, Johal said.
Vancouver's city council recently amended its Olympic bylaws over concerns that language designed to protect the commercial rights of sponsors could be interpreted as prohibiting political protest.
At the same time, the security agency in charge of the Olympics continues to work with its civil rights advisory panel and has promised not to interfere with legal protests.
The IOCC was formed by a group of academics and activists after Vancouver won the bid in an effort to create a community organization that could work with organizers and the city on how to avoid some of the historically negative social impacts of an Olympics.
The organizing committee and government officials had signed a commitment to 14 areas, including accessibility, education and transportation, as well as housing and civil rights.
Activists say few of those guarantees have come to pass.
"By filing a complaint, it doesn't change the situation on the ground but it does take one small step in holding to account (Vancouver and international Olympic organizers) and the different government partners in terms of how they are organizing the Games and what if any impacts there are going to be on housing and civil liberties," said Johal.
Vancouver organizers point to a number of steps taken to try and mitigate the impact on the Games, including providing money for temporary housing to compensate for pressure on city shelters and supporting job training programs for venue construction.
A persistent issue is a concern that police are issuing thousands of tickets in the Downtown Eastside for infractions such as jaywalking in order to be able to jail the people who can't pay the fine during the Games.
City councillors promised to try and reverse some of those tickets after activists disrupted a council meeting last week.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SWIMSUIT WAR

This month's crackdown on slick swimsuits marks a rare retreat in the technological arms race (and legs race) that has dominated international sports - but it doesn't mean the multimillion-dollar quest for a high-tech edge is over.
"We've already started to think about what kinds of things we'll be doing for 2012," said Rick Sharp, an exercise physiologist at Iowa State University who has played a key role in the swimsuit wars. Then he added with a chuckle, "I can't tell you what those are."
Sharp was part of an outside team of experts - also including NASA engineer Stephen Wilkinson - who helped Speedo develop its full-body LZR Racer ("laser racer") swimsuit for last year's Beijing Olympics. Swimmers wearing the bodysuit (including Olympic superstar Michael Phelps) broke records galore, and that led competitors to ask angrily whether using the suit amounted to "technological doping."
Swimsuit tech has been making headlines for almost 10 years, starting with the "Fastskin" suits introduced by Speedo for the 2000 Olympics. The idea was that the suits' V-shaped ridges, modeled after shark scales, would cut down on drag and let the swimmer slide faster through the water.
Sharp's specialty is testing the claims for improvements in sports performance. For instance, did shaving body hair have a measurable effect on a swimmer's performance? (Yes, it did.) OK, so did wearing that sharkskin suit have a measurable effect? (Um, no, not really.)
"Because of that work, yeah, Speedo came to me and asked me to help with research and development," Sharp told me on Tuesday.
With an assist from Sharp and his colleagues, Speedo tested a variety of drag-reducing designs and fabrics to come up with a suit that would have a measurable effect. "Basically, it's a matter of having a garment on that will reduce the water resistance as much as possible," Sharp explained.
Part of the challenge is the kind of material you use, and where you use it. The Speedo team came up with a design that put panels of polyurethane over parts of the body that produce the highest drag. Another part is the suit design: You don't want a suit that traps water as it flows around the swimmer. Yet another innovation is to use material that squeezes and slims down swimmers "so the skin doesn't wobble around as they go through the water," Sharp said.

Pieces of fabric were put through wind-tunnel tests to check for drag. Programmers used computational fluid dynamics to model the suits' aerodynamic qualities, as if they were trying to figure out how a brand-new jet will fly. Then, swimmers put the designs to real-world tests in tanks and pools.

The results at the Beijing Olympics were jaw-dropping: Twenty-three world records were broken by the swimmers who wore LZR Racer suits, compared with only two that were broken by the swimmers who didn't. Speedo said 89 percent of all the medals in swimming (including 94 percent of the gold medals) were won by LZR Racer swimmers.
First came the complaints. Then came the escalation: Italian swimsuit makers Arena and Jaked both came out with suits that one-upped the Speedo by using pure polyurethane. "It was relatively obvious to some companies to say, 'Well, let's just make the whole suit out of this stuff,'" Sharp said.
World records once again started dropping like cannonballs off the high-dive. And that only deepened suspicions that pockets of air were somehow being trapped between the polyurethane and the swimmers' skin. If that were the case, the added buoyancy would give those swimmers an unfair advantage.
That's just the kind of issue scientists might be able to settle, but Sharp said he's not aware of any data on the buoyancy question. "This has only been around since about June, so there hasn't been any time for studies to be done," he told me.
He's pretty sure, however, that buoyancy wasn't as much of an issue with the Speedo suits. "We didn't make the whole suit out of polyurethane, we just used patches in a sense," he said. "Some of the new suits ... are completely impermeable to water."
Last week, the governing body for international swimming, known as FINA, decided to ban full-body suits and set stricter standards for their composition. Polyurethane is out. The suits will have to be made exclusively from textiles.
There's another catch, however: FINA's new rules won't go into effect until as late as next spring, which implies that the super-slick, Speedo-beating suits will continue to be worn and records will continue to be broken.

On Tuesday, the situation came to a head when Michael Phelps (wearing a Speedo) came in second to Germany's Paul Biedermann (wearing an Arena X-Glide). The unexpected defeat led Phelps' coach to declare that the world's best-known swimmer probably won't swim in international competitions until the rules change.

"It has to be implemented immediately," coach Bob Bowman said of the polyurethane ban. "The sport is in shambles right now, and they better do something or they're going to lose their guy who fills these seats."
Sharp agreed that the next few months could get rocky. "It's going to be a free-for-all until then," he told me. But then what? Will it be 1999 all over again?
Sharp is certain that the swimwear manufacturers won't just dust off their old designs. "I know they're thinking and talking, and maybe hypothetically designing as we speak," he said.
Speedo has said developing the LZR Racer suit cost several million dollars, and there's no reason to think that kind of spending will stop just because the development effort has to go in a new direction. There's also no reason to think that the $550 price tag for an Olympic-ready swimsuit will be trimmed back as much as the bodysuit itself. You can bet that the shorter swimsuits dreamed up for the London Olympics in 2012 will be touted as the latest and the greatest, as well as street-legal.
The gears inside Sharp's head are already turning.
"I don't think we've exhausted all the possibilities in thread-based materials," he said. "They can still work more on fit, making sure something isn't scooping water and acting as a parachute as they go through the water. But all these things will be within limits, and I think that's progress."
FINA officials will likely be working along with swimsuit manufacturers to make sure the revised rules leave room for new high-tech twists.
"They don't want to stifle innovation completely, but at the same time they don't want to have equipment that enhances performance beyond what the swimmer's natural ability is," Sharp said. "We maybe won't 'enhance' their performance, but we can impair it less."
Then Sharp lets loose with that chuckle again. "You might call that spin doctoring," he said.

No ban, no Phelps

ROME - FINALLY, the resentment that has been simmering in swimming's World Championships has reached boiling point. No bodysuit ban, no Michael Phelps.
His coach Bob Bowman did not mince words after his amphibious freak of nature lost to relative unknown Paul Biedermann, who was wearing the Arena X-Glide body suit, in the 200m freestyle Tuesday.
Bowman said: 'I'm done with this. The sport is in shambles and Fina better do something or they're going to lose their guy (Phelps) who fills these seats.
'That would be my recommendation to him, to not swim internationally.' Phelps added: 'Bob chooses where I swim.'
Fina will ban the high-tech swimsuits. But only from next year, and even then no sooner than May. Until then, records will fall like rain and the debate will rage - was it the man or the suit that won?
Phelps' world-record time was smashed by 0.96sec by Biedermann, who finished in 1min 42sec. In Beijing, the German ended fifth in 1:46.00.
'We've lost all the history of the sport,' Bowman said. 'Does a 10-year-old boy want to break Biedermann's record? Is that going to make him join swimming?
'It took Michael from 2003 to 2008 to go from 1:46 to 1:42.9 and this guy's done it in 11 months. That's an amazing training programme.'
The new generation suits work on the same principles as aerodynamics. Just like reducing drag helps planes fly faster, reducing body drag helps humans swim faster. Studies show that skin friction amounts to almost one-third of the total force restraining a swimmer in the water. Companies such as Arena have spent enormous sums researching which fabrics and weaves drag the least.
The X-Glide is a 100 per cent polyurethane body glove, so hard to slip on that the wearer needs plastics bags on his or her feet and their hands just to slide it on. It is so skintight it actually traps air, which also makes a swimmer buoyant. The LZR is a technological artifact compared to today's fully rubberised suits. And thus a Biedermann can shoot past a 14-time gold medallist such as Phelps.

Rip up records: Swimming is a shambles right now, says Foster

Mark Foster, whose international swimming career spanned 20 years, has called for the blizzard of world records in hi-tech swimsuits to be struck from the record books.
'The records have to go back to the end of 2007,' he said. 'It used to be big news every time somebody broke a world record, now every time somebody steps into a pool they break one. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it's detrimental to the sport.'
Foster, who carried the flag for the British team at the Beijing Games last year, believes that the Speedo LZR Racer, the suit which kicked off the world-record spree in February 2008, has been worth about half a second over 50 metres, and the allpolyurethane suits - made by Jaked, Arena and adidas - that followed are worth as much again.
'That's an overall drop of almost five per cent, which is ridiculous,' added Foster. 'Before the suits, you would train all year to improve by a couple of hundredths of a second.'
He is convinced that Britain's Rebecca Adlington and American Michael Phelps have lost races they should have won here at the World Championships in Rome by sticking to the now-outdated Speedo suit.
'The 200m freestyle was a race that the best swimmer didn't win,' added Foster.
Germany's Paul Biedermann, who beat Phelps in that race, is one of the swimmers who has come under the most scrutiny here, having made massive improvements to his times and taken not only Phelps's world record in the 200m freestyle but that of Ian Thorpe in the 400m freestyle.
Biedermann has accepted it would be a good thing if the governing body, FINA, put some sort of indicator in the record books. 'I don't have a problem with having my world records being marked,' he said. For Foster, though, that would not be enough and he is fiercely critical of the governing body for letting things get out of hand.
'I don't understand how they didn't see this coming,' he added. Phelps's coach Bob Bowman was also pointing the finger at FINA when, on Tuesday, he threatened to pull Phelps out of international events until the suits issue was settled. 'I'm done with this,' said Bowman.

'The sport is in a shambles right now and they'd better do something or they're going to lose their guy who fills these seats. We've lost all the history of the sport. Does a 10-year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann's record? Is that going to make him join swimming? I would be perfectly happy if we adjust all the records and went back to 2007.'
Janet Evans, whose 800m freestyle record was broken by Rebecca Adlington in Beijing, believes the situation has become farcical. 'I go online in the morning and I laugh. It's so out of control,' she said.
So complete has been the swimsuit revolution that only one mark has survived from the pre-suit era, the Australian Grant Hackett's 1500m freestyle record set in 2001 - and that could go on Sunday.

FINA announce ban on bodysuits from 2010

The threat of a boycott by Michael Phelps, winner of eight Olympic gold medals, has persuaded FINA, the International federation to make a clean cut on suits: from January 1, 2010, the bodysuit will be banned and all suits must be made of textiles. Gone too will be the polyurethane and other non-textile fabrics that have helped to push time standards in the race pool through a timewarp in the past year.
On Tuesday this week, the ruling FINA executive announced that it would honour the wishes of the ruling Congress and the 168 nations that voted for a return to textile suits and a cut back in profile in 2010. However, executive director Cornel Marculescu said that a deadline of January 1 next year was unrealistic because of commercial pressures on suit makers.
The start of the new era would be "April or May at the latest", he said, because suit companies needed time to sell stock and to adapt production lines. Time ran out for FINA and suit makers later that same day, however, when Phelps lost the 200m freestyle title and world record to German Paul Biedermann and an arena X-Glide suit that the champion credited with "two seconds" of his four second improvement on the clock this year.
Bob Bowman, coach to Phelps in Baltimore, called on FINA not to delay enforcement of new suits rules beyond January 1, 2010, saying: "They can expect Michael not to swim until then, because I am done with this. They have to implement this immediately. This is a shambles. They better do something or they are going to lose the guy that fills all these seats. We have lost the history of the sport. That would be my recommendation for him not to swim internationally. This mess needs to be stopped right now. This can't go on any further." Phelps said simply that he would follow his coaches' instructions. 

FINA responded this afternoon by agreeing that the damage being caused to the sport in a week in which 29 world records have fallen, with more to come over the next three days, had to be brought to a swift end. Newly elected president of FINA, Julio Maglione, of Uruguay, said that the theme of his time in the top office would be "integrity". As such, swimming would be given back to swimmers on January 1.
Denis Pursley, head coach to Britain and an American who has long been opposed to the use of high-tech suits, told The Times: "It is fantastic that FINA has finally done the right thing. The continual changes on the suits issue in the past months has been terrible for swimmers and coaches alike. We have seen kids lining up for two hours in oppressive heat hear at these championships just to get their hands on a suit that will make them competitive."
The coach noted that the suits cost £350 or more each and that "they often rip or lose their effect after several wears". He said that £1,000 a meet was "just too expensive for parents and kids ... a ludicrous expense."
The threat of action against FINA was backed by Biedermann, the German who not only felled Phelps this week but erased the 400m freestyle world record of Australian Ian Thorpe. On the boycott threat, Biedermann, who also wants a return to textile shorts, said: "When Michael Phelps is really doing that, FINA should react. When the best swimmer in the world says that, that's amazing. It's really great."
Suit wars began with the launch of the Speedo LZR Racer in February 2010. Half of the Nasa-designed apparel, with bonded seams, was made of polyurethane panels that reduce drag in water and help swimmers to glide like never before. Rival suit makers cried foul. They had understood that no such equipment would ever be allowed because of a rule stating that "no device may aid speed, buoyancy and endurance."
Complaints fell on deaf ears at FINA and in 2008 108 world records fell, most of them to swimmers wearing the LZR. That suit also accounted for more than 80 per cent of all medals won at the Olympic Games in Beijing, including the eight won by Phelps and the two won by Britain's Rebecca Adlington. Since the turn of the year, more than 20 rival suit makers have swamped the race pool with 100 per cent polyurethane suits and wetsuit-lookalikes that trap air and help to reduce fatigue through compression.
"We've lost the history of the sport," said Bowman. "Does a 10-year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann's record? Is that going to make him join swimming?" He called on all world records in 2008 and 2009, including 10 set by Phelps, to be marked as "artificially aided".
Bowman said: "I would be perfectly happy if we adjust all the records starting with the LZR. If we took them all out and went back to 2007. Even those in Beijing. We can have them in a separate list. These were done in polyurethane suits and then these are done in textile suits. Then we can start over in January and make the sport about swimming. There should be separate lists for polyurethane and textile suits, so we can start over in January. I think these records need to be kept apart."

FINA to ban record-breaking bodysuits Jan. 1

ROME — No need to worry about a Michael Phelps boycott.
Swimming's governing body will ban record-breaking bodysuits beginning Jan. 1, a move that comes partly in response to a threat from Phelps' coach to pull his swimmer from competition until the suits are outlawed.
"It's going to be cool come Jan. 1 to be able to have all of us pretty much wearing the same suit," Phelps said Friday after swimming the leadoff leg as the Americans broke the world record in the 800 freestyle relay. "All of this is going to be finished and then we're going to be able to talk about swimming again, not suits."
Earlier this week, FINA announced a ban but said it might not come into effect until April or May.
"Now, without a doubt, the rules are applying Jan. 1, 2010," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu said Friday. "The manufacturers are ready and can begin (suit) submissions Nov. 1 or before."
The comments from Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, came immediately after the swimmer was upset by unheralded Paul Biedermann of Germany in the 200-meter freestyle Tuesday. Biedermann wore a 100 percent polyurethane Arena suit, while Phelps stuck with last year's Speedo LZR Racer, which is less than half polyurethane. This year suits from Italian manufacturers Arena and Jaked are considered faster.
Last year, Phelps and others wearing the LZR profited from its increased speed. Under the new rules, it, as well as the Arena and Jaked suits will be banned. Men will be restricted to suits that extend from the waist to the top of the knees; women's suits cannot go past the shoulders or beyond the knees.
"I'm just thrilled that they did it, because it's the right thing to do," Bowman said. "We know they want to do the right thing for the sport, they just need to do it, so I'm glad to hear it and so is Michael.
"We'll probably keep our competition schedule. There will be some little questions about what suit is he going to wear until the end of the year, but they're minor. In training I don't care."
FINA plans to issue new suit guidelines to manufacturers by Sept. 30 and thought about delaying implementation for a few months to give the companies enough time to produce new suits.
With two days still to go, 35 world records have been set at these world championships, five more than at the last edition two years ago in Melbourne, Australia.
FINA also announced a rule requiring suits to be approved one year before Olympics or world championships, and available commercially six months in advance.
A scientific commission with materials experts from each continent will approve swimsuits and monitor developments in technology, FINA said.
USA Swimming is considering installing the new suit rules for domestic competition before the end of the year. Polyurethane bodysuits will be banned for a Duel in the Pool competition in Manchester, England, in December, with the United States facing an all-star team from France, Russia and Britain.
"We met after prelims this morning and agreed to adopt the rules for that meet," USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus said. "Whether or not USA Swimming adopts those rules any sooner is something we'll talk about when we get home."

Fina to ban bodysuits from January 1st

SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: AS MORE world records tumbled at the world championships in Rome, Fina, the world governing body, has bowed to the inevitable and announced that the controversial full bodysuits will be banned from all competitions from January 1st next year.
Fina president Julio Maglione initially announced this week the ban would come into effect in “April or May” of next year to be replaced by textile-only suits with leggings for men, and the more traditional swimwear for women.
Bob Bowman, coach to Michael Phelps, said earlier in the week he would pull his swimmer out of future meets if the issue was not resolved.
In a further move. Fina’s technical committee say they will consider the issue of the world records set over the last two years since the bodysuit entered world swimming in February 2008 with the introduction of the Speedo LZR leggings which were used extensively during the Beijing Olympics which produced 25 world records.
In the pool last night, the world records surged past the 30 mark. In the first race Germany’s Olympic champion Britta Steffan produced a storming last 50 metres to win the women’s 100 metres freestyle, setting a world’s best for the event for the second time this week. Trailing Lisbeth Trickett at the 50-metre turn, Steffan, half a body length behind, began to hunt down the Australian in the lane beside her, passing her in the last 15 metres to claim gold. Her winning time was 52.07 seconds. Trickett had to settle for bronze, beaten to the touch by Britain’s Fran Halsall.
American Aaron Piersol kept the world records coming in the next race, smashing the men’s 200 metres backstroke time in taking gold and making up for not making the 100 metres final.
Other world records were set in the semi-finals of the women’s 50 metres butterfly by Magdalena Veldhuis of the Netherlands in 25.28 seconds, only for the time to be beaten by Sweden’s Therese Alshammer in the next semi-final in 25.07.
Outspoken Serbian Milorad Cavic, who had offered to buy Phelps a full bodysuit to replace his Speedo leggings, took the American’s world record in the second semi-final of the 100 metres butterfly in 50.01 seconds.
Phelps won gold as part of the US 4x200 metres freestyle relay squad who set the final world record of the night, cutting one hundredth of a second off their Beijing time, winning in six minutes 58.55 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Ireland’s Barry Murphy, a semi-finalist in the 50 metres breaststroke, narrowly failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the men’s 50 metres freestyle despite swimming a world-class time of 22.14 seconds, his fastest ever, which left him 19th overall. Murphy won his heat impressively but the time was just not good enough for him to make his second semi-final of the week.
Murphy may have one more race tomorrow. “I’m not sure if I’m finished. It’s between me and (Andrew) Bree for the medley relay squad but the coaches will decide that.”
Conor Leaney, swimming in an earlier heat, broke the Irish junior record in the 50 metres freestyle, while Melanie Nocher went in her top event, the women’s 200 metres butterfly, but despite winning her heat failed to progress. Nuala and Gráinne Murphy failed to get to the final of the women’s 800 metres freestyle.
Irish swimmers in action today are Fiona Doyle and Clare Dawson in the 50 metres freestyle, Karl Burdis and Donal O’Neill, who compete in the 50 backstroke and the women’s 4x100 metres medley relay squad of Aisling Cooney, Doyle, Murphy and Dawson.

Techno doping in Rome

The aquatics world is abuzz about the new 100 per cent polyurethane suits that enable swimmers to churn through the water faster than ever before. As a result, 35 world records have already been broken this week at the world championships in Rome.
After losing a race to an unheralded German swimmer who was using one of the new suits, the legendary Michael Phelps – still wearing last year's revolutionary design (less than 50 per cent polyurethane) – declared that he would withdraw from competitive swimming until the new suits are banned. FINA, the world governing body for the sport, responded yesterday by announcing the suits would be banned as of Jan. 1, 2010.
Critics say the new all-polyurethane suit is a case of "techno doping." Like a performance-enhancing drug, it gives a swimmer an unfair edge over the competition.
Of course, swimming is not alone in this respect. Technological changes in equipment are a major issue in golf, tennis, hockey and many other sports.
One of the attractive qualities of competitive sport – for athletes and fans alike – is record-keeping. It allows us to compare performances over the years. But new technology can make those comparisons meaningless by vaulting the present-day athlete ahead of those who came before and used inferior equipment. The records set at the world swimming championships this week may stand for many years as the swimmers revert to old-style suits next year.
It is too late to go back to wooden tennis racquets or hickory-shafted golf clubs. But like FINA, the governing bodies for these and other sports have a duty to keep technological changes under control so that athletic competition is truly a contest between athletes, not designers.

Swimsuits wreck a noble sport

Across town from the ancient arena, which hosted chariot races, an aquatic version has emerged in the past week, created by the International Swimming Federation when it failed to come to grips with the threat of swimsuit technology before the world championships began last Sunday.
Since FINA opened the door to the use of performance-enhancing polyurethane swimsuits, the record books have been under siege.

The monuments to some of the great champions of the sport - Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps, Grant Hackett, Leisel Jones, Inge de Bruijn - have not just been toppled in the last week, they have been smashed to smithereens.
Only two world records that pre-date the release of the first suit with polyurethane panels (the Speedo LZR) in February last year remain - Hackett's revered 1500m freestyle standard and American Kate Ziegler's female equivalent.

By tomorrow Ziegler's mark is expected to be the sole survivor.
The procession began within days of the launch of the LZR. Since then more than 160 world records have fallen, and the mad pace of progress has further accelerated this year, fuelled by the proliferation of full polyurethane suits.
A record 25 world records were broken at the Beijing Olympics, yet at these world championships 35 fell in six days. There could be more world records than events (40) by the time the final tally is taken tonight.
Yet by late last year, it had become obvious something vital to the sport was under threat from this technology. Swimming has always been one of the few pure sports, requiring no equipment to compete.
The suit supporters who have compared the rise of swimsuit technology to advances in Formula One or tennis misunderstand the nature of the sport. Formula One and tennis don't exist without their equipment.

There has been a fundamental shift in swimming's character. As Michael Phelps said in Rome: "Now, it's not swimming".
And so a one-off freak show is being held at the Foro Italico, one that will never be repeated now FINA has finally agreed to ban the polyurethane bodysuits from January 1.
In the meantime, world records are not greeted with wonder by swimmers and coaches as they were in the past. They are being devalued faster than a stockmarket plunge.

Now they are barely acknowledged, and accompanied by sadness when one of greats is taken down by a bolt of fantastic plastic.

There is great awareness that the sport has been unhinged from its foundations.
"We have lost the history of the sport," Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman, lamented after watching unfancied German Paul Biedermann take down Ian Thorpe's 400m freestyle world record and Phelps's 200m mark in three days.
"I just said to Doug Frost (Thorpe's first coach), the two of us were erased in three days," Bowman said.
"It took no time, what took us 12 years together (to build)."
American distance great Janet Evans, whose 1988 world 800m freestyle record went down at Beijing, said: "It's kind of hard to watch. I go online in the morning and I laugh. It's so out of control. We need to kind of start over again."
There was considerable relief around the pool deck yesterday when FINA finally declared a date for the new start.
Perhaps surprisingly, Biedermann, one of those who has gained the most from polyurethane suits, is just as keen to see the back of them.

Fire continues to burn on Blackcomb Mountain

WHISTLER (NEWS1130) - Parts of Blackcomb Mountain have been evacuated after a lightning strike started a forest fire in the area late Thursday afternoon. No homes or businesses are at risk in Whistler Village but the bitter smell of smoke hangs in the air over the community. Whistler is open with some restrictions for hikers and mountain bikers. The Peak To Peak gondola is also open, but with no dropoff at Blackcomb.

The fire is now pegged at 30 hectares after jumping in size from about four hectares to between 50 and 75 within hours on Thursday.  Crews are most concerned about the Crystal Lodge hut and chairlift but Thursday night the fire chief didn't believe them to be at risk. Firefighters are fighting the blaze from the ground and in the air, when the weather cooperates.
People who saw it all unfold describe being captivated by the fast work of air tankers and helicopters dropping water. Locals, business owners, and repeat tourists all seem pretty hardy. One woman tells News1130 "we were scared we were going to get evacuated from our hotel, but we're just glad it got under control. Forest fires happen all the time, all over the place, we just love it here."

Mountain Fire No Threat To Vancouver 2010

Fire officials said a blaze on a British Columbia Olympic mountain is much smaller than originally feared, but the Canadian Press reports just in case there's a backup plan if the winds suddenly shift and threaten the Vancouver 2010 Games venues. They will turn on the snowmaking equipment.
Doug Forseth, vice president of operations for Whistler-Backcomb said, "on the alpine venue we're fortune enough to have a sprinkler system, more or less, with the snow-making capacity we have in that zone, so we have reservoirs and the ability to pump water into those zones.
"We have fire hydrants for the snowmaking equipment and we have the ability to have some capable resources to help dampen the fire if we have anything start".
Friday it was reported the blaze spread in the Crystal Ridge area of Blackcomb Mountain on the opposite side from the 2010 Olympic Village and continued to move upslope Friday morning about three kilometres away from populated areas and infrastructure. It was still burning out of control Friday morning but presenting no threat to Olympic venues, reports the Ottawa Citizen.
Blackcomb Mountain is home to the Olympic Sliding Centre, which is hosting the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events during the Games. Whistler Mountain will host the alpine skiing events. On Friday the Ottawa Citizen reported that none of the Games venues were currently at risk.

Lightning ignites fire at 2010 Olympics alpine venue

VANCOUVER, Canada — A forest fire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists from a mountain venue of the 2010 Winter Olympics caused no damage to infrastructure, a resort spokeswoman said Friday.
Firefighters were still battling the blaze on Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler Resort, which ignited Thursday after a lightning strike.
Bobsled, luge and skeleton events are to be held during the 2010 Winter Olympics at the resort 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Vancouver in the Rocky Mountains.
"There has been no damage to the infrastructure, that includes infrastructure on the mountain as well any Olympic venues," resort spokeswoman Jessica Delaney told AFP.
Delaney said about 350 sightseers were evacuated from the mountain, where high temperatures and lack of rain have rendered the area "timber dry."
Delaney said that by 6 pm (2200 GMT) the fire covered 75 hectares (185 acres) and was burning out of control.
A statement by the British Columbia forestry service said ground crews, seven air tankers and several helicopters were battling the blaze.
The local fire chief, cited by CBC public television, the wind was blowing the blaze away from the village of Whistler.
Television images showed a great billow of smoke rising near ski runs while tanker planes dumped large quantities of liquid to slow the fire's spread.
"Anything can happen, but we are well prepared and trained to deal with these situations," Mike McCully, a spokesman for the British Columbia Fire Service told the CBC.
"We've got some very good resources on hand. In fact we have crews from Ontario, Manitoba, and our own top crews are working this fire," he said.
The Canadian west has been hit since the start of the month by a heat wave wave and dry weather that have been at the root of many major fires.
The town of Kelowna, about 400 kilometers (248 miles) east of Vancouver, has been surrounded by three fires that have ravaged nearly 5,000 hectares of forest, forcing the temporary evacuation of some 17,000 people.

Special Olympians gather in Nebraska

While the 2010 Special Olympics won't take place for another year, athletes and officials alike will get a chance to practice for the event this weekend, The Lincoln Journal Star reports. 
Starting tonight at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, more than 300 Special Olympics athletes from across the country will compete in the 2009 Special Olympics National Invitational Golf & Softball Tournament.
The tournament will be a miniature version of next summer's national 2010 Special Olympics, scheduled for July 18-23 in that same city. 
This weekend will provide organizers and athletes a chance to try out all of their systems - including communications, delegation services, and especially transportation.
 "This is really our big test event,"said Sarah Leeth, director of marketing and fund development for the 2010 games.

Michelle Kwan Leaves Skating For Pursuing Higher Education

According to the sources, the five time world figure skating champion, Michelle Kwan has reportedly announced on Friday that she won’t be making another attempt at the Olympic Gold Medal that had eluded her as she plans to skip the 2009-10 season in order to focus on her career.

The startling revelation of Kwan thus brings an end to a high profile career of the skater who has two gold medals tagged to her name. She is also a five time world champion.

Kwan had last been seen competing in the year 2005 after which she had expressed her desire to return at the “ice” in order to participate in the Winter Vancouver Olympics which is supposed to be held in the year 2010. The skater revealed that she plans to attend graduate school at Tuff’s University near Boston in order to pursue master’s in international affairs. The 29 year old American had earlier settled for a silver in the 1998 Nagano Olympics and Bronze in 2002 at Sallt Lake City.

In a statement released by U.S. figure skating, Kwan had revealed that she wants to lay stress more on her studies rather than being professionally involved in skating. “Skating will always be a part of me, but in the bigger picture of my life, I always wanted to find a career that will allow me to make a positive contribution and and difference in the world,” said Kwan. “Furthering my education will bring me closer to that goal and I don’t want any longer to continue my journey,” quipped the 29 year old Skater.

Kwan’s absence in the 2010 Winter Vancouver Olympics will be missed by many as the skater dismissed chances of any possible return unless there’s a twist in the tale.

Hail and farewell, Michelle, a wider world awaits

It was hardly a surprise when Michelle Kwan announced Friday today that she would not compete in 2009-10, which means, of course, that her competitive figure skating days are over. Kwan, 29, will move on with her life by enrolling this fall at the renowned Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she will seek a master's degree in international affairs.

That intellectual enhancement is fitting for a Chinese American from Southern California who competed on a global stage but whose vistas once were circumscribed by ice rinks and hotels in the many countries where she skated. Since she left competitive skating at the 2006 Turin Olympics, Kwan's world view has dramatically widened through her role as a public diplomacy envoy for the State Department and her studies at Denver University, where she received a bachelor's in international studies this May.

As Kwan seizes her future, the best way for me to assess her past is something I already wrote.

Given the uncertainty over her physical condition as she prepared for the 2006 Olympics, I had prepared a story summing up her career to appear either after the Winter Games skating ended or any time before that if circumstances dictated.

That is what happened, as pain in her groin forced Kwan to withdraw before the competition.

The story in question was published Feb. 13, 2006. I reread it after receiving Kwan's statement from U.S Figure Skating and decided the old story would be the best valedictory for the sporting phase of her life.

You can read it after the jump:

KWAN SWAN SONG

An injury ends her quest for gold, but the skating great leaves a gilded legacy

Turin, Italy -- Barring a remarkable comeback, Michelle Kwan will go down in history as the greatest figure skater never to have won an Olympic gold medal.

Even more remarkable is that Kwan has not needed that Olympic title to become the most popular and beloved skater the United States has ever seen.

"People just love her," said two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt of Germany. "And they are right. They should love her."

In announcing Sunday that pain in her right groin will keep her from trying to skate a third Olympics, Kwan, 25, probably has ended a competitive career in which she dominated her sport longer than any other singles skater since World War II.

"It has always been a dream to win the Olympics," Kwan said, breaking into tears. "My parents . . . arrived last night and want me to be happy and for their baby to win gold, have her dreams come true.

"I have my tried my hardest. If I don't win the gold, it's OK. I've had a great career. I've been very lucky."

And her place in history is secure.

"Winning an Olympic gold medal is a very important part of a skater's legacy, and always will be," said 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano. "But Michelle's legacy still is incomparable. Her consistency and great level of artistry and athletic ability set her apart.

"If people take time to look at her body of work, that equalizes the one thing she doesn't have."

That body of work includes nine U.S. championships, five world titles and two Olympic medals, silver and bronze. Only Sonja Henie of Norway, with 10, won more world titles. Kwan's nine world medals, including three silvers and a bronze, are three more than any other U.S. skater has won.

Yet those achievements cannot begin to explain why Kwan occupies such a special place not only in her sport's history but also in the hearts of rivals, fans and coaches.

"Seldom has there been a skater that, upon the mere mention of her name, fans would almost swoon," said Morry Stillwell, former president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

"She has the largest domestic fan base of any skater ever," said John Nicks, coach of reigning national champion and Olympic medal contender Sasha Cohen.

Longevity at the top during an era when the sport received unprecedented media coverage meant more people were exposed to Kwan's style and personality than to any skater before her. The people obviously liked what they saw, as reflected by the sponsors who wished upon her star.

"When I think of Michelle, I think of her as a legend in her own time," said Frank Carroll, who coached Kwan from 1992 through 2001.

A statue Kwan created for a Disney charity auction drew a higher price than those created by Tom Hanks, Shaquille O'Neal, Ben Affleck, John Travolta and Andre Agassi.

Talking about the recent decline in ratings for televised figure skating, sports TV guru Eddie Einhorn said, "Without Kwan, we would have been dead by now."

"She inspired me every day, and not only on the ice," said Sarah Hughes, who upset Kwan to win the 2002 Olympic gold medal. "I have admired Michelle's skating since I was 10 years old.

"A lot of times people aren't really how they seem on TV. Michelle is an exception. The way she comes across from afar--genuine, kind, sophisticated and classy--is just the way she is in person."

Those qualities were never more evident than in her Olympic disappointments.

Heavily favored in 1998, she skated exceptionally well at the Nagano Winter Games--better, at the time, than any winning performance in Olympic history except the one by compatriot Tara Lipinski that won the gold. Co-favorite with Russia's Irina Slutskaya in 2002, Kwan let the gold slip away with two big errors in the free skate.

Both times Kwan graciously praised the winners and moved on. Whatever regrets may have haunted her she kept to herself.

If at times her quest for gold seemed as obsessively futile as Ahab's chase of Moby Dick, the difference is Kwan always seemed to be having a whale of a time--while earning an estimated $20 million from it.

"She has always conducted herself in such a way that she has earned the respect of her peers and anyone who has ever watched figure skating," said Todd Eldredge, six-time U.S. champion and 1996 world champion. "Even though she hasn't won an Olympic gold medal, she can be regarded as the best-ever women's skater."

Kwan unquestionably belongs on the short list of the greatest in history, along with Witt; three-time Olympic champion Henie; and U.S. women Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss, each of whom won Olympic gold and silver medals, and Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic champion, whose aura transcended her triumph.

Comparing them is nearly impossible because of rules differences from era to era. But simply: Kwan beat more good skaters from more countries for a longer time than anyone else.

"What I like is that she has been always a fighter," Witt said. "There have been so many young skaters coming and going, winning the Olympics and leaving. She kept defending her titles and still setting goals for herself, which I think is great. She always could have taken the easy way, and she never did."

In 2001, when a resolute Kwan narrowly beat Slutskaya for the world title for the second straight year, French figure skating coach Annick Gailhaguet called Kwan the greatest skater of the previous 50 years but thought she had stagnated.

"Skating is not only speed or jumps or choreography," Gailhaguet said. "It is all those qualities together. Nobody ever had all those qualities, but the one who has the most is Michelle.

"Everything she does in the skating part is perfect--the quality of the edges, the positions of her body, arms and head, her line, her lightness, the technique on her jumps.

"But I would like to see her do something completely different in her programs. She changes the music, but it's the same program. Except for that, she is the best skater our sport has ever had."

Gailhaguet's opinion had become more widespread since the 2002 Olympics, when Kwan cut back technically and competitively, doing just seven Olympic-style competitions over the last four seasons.

The last two seasons, Kwan's desire to curtail the physical demands on her body ran headlong into the increased technical demands of the new judging system. Kwan competed just once under the new system, at the 2005 world championships, where her fourth-place finish left her without a medal for the first time since 1995, when she was 14.

The peak of her career was from 1996 through 2001, a span longer than the entire careers of most skaters. But Kwan won her fifth world championship and four more U.S. titles after that. She has the rare distinction of being the fourth-youngest and 10th-oldest U.S. champion in history.

Kwan was only 13 when she was named an alternate to the 1994 U.S. Olympic team. Had the nation earned its customary three women's spots in the Olympic field instead of the two it had for 1994, she already would have competed in three Winter Games.

A year earlier, at 12, Kwan had been the youngest senior-level competitor in 20 years at the U.S. championships, finishing sixth.

"It's kind of fun skating with the older people," Kwan said then of contenders Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. "They've been around for a couple hundred years. I'm just starting to rise."

Within six months, Kwan had received a lengthy standing ovation from the largest crowd ever to see a figure skating competition as she won the 1993 Olympic Festival before 25,691 in San Antonio. "Today she became a star," Heiss said.

At the 1996 worlds, the 15-year-old Kwan gave what Boitano calls "her breakthrough performance." Skating to music from Richard Strauss' opera "Salome," Kwan not only embodied the biblical temptress for four minutes but also added a triple jump in the final seconds of the free skate that likely won her the title over an equally dazzling performance by defending champion Lu Chen of China.

Joe Inman was moved to tears by Kwan's performance at the 1998 U.S. championships, when he was among the judges who rained perfect scores on her artistic impression (15 out of 18) in the short and long programs.

"Michelle has given many terrific moments to the sport/art of ice skating," Inman said. "She brought many people into this genre by giving us her love of the sport and projecting to us as a true professional. She has proven herself to be a champion of champions."

Figure Skating: Kwan picks grad school over 2010 Olympic bid

OLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Five-time world figure skating champion Michelle Kwan will not make another attempt at the Olympic gold medal that eluded her, saying Friday she will skip the 2009-2010 season.

Kwan last competed in 2005 but had pondered making a return to the ice in hopes of qualifying for February's 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Instead, the 29-year-old American who settled for silver at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and bronze in 2002 at Salt Lake City will attend graduate school at Tufts University near Boston working on a master's in international affairs.

"Skating will always be a part of me, but in the bigger picture of my life, I have always wanted to find a career that will allow me to make a positive contribution and difference in the world," Kwan said.

"Furthering my education will bring me closer to that goal and I don?t want to wait any longer to continue the journey."

Kwan, a nine-time US champion who graduated in November from the University of Denver, will skate before an audience for the first time in three years in August when she joins world champion Kim Yu-Na in Ice All-Stars 2009 at Seoul.

Kwan has traveled the world as a diplomatic envoy for the US State Department and will work as a television commentator and corporate spokeswoman.

World titles went to Kwan in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

Michelle Kwan won't compete in 2009-10 season

Michelle Kwan's magnificent figure skating career will end without an Olympic gold medal.

The Torrance native, a nine-time U.S. champion, five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, announced Friday she will not compete in the 2009-10 season. That means she won't be in Vancouver in February to try to add a gold medal to the silver she won in 1998 and the bronze she won in 2002.
In a statement released by U.S. Figure Skating, Kwan said she will attend graduate school full time at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and pursue a master's degree in international affairs. Kwan, 29, last competed in 2005. She got a medical bye onto the U.S. team for the Turin Olympics, but a hip injury led her to withdraw before the competition began.

"Skating will always be a part of me," Kwan said in the statement.

Kwan to focus on school rather than back for 2010 Olympics

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Five-time world champion Michelle Kwan picked school over making another attempt at the gold medals 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, said the U.S. Figure skating on Friday.

The 29-year-old Kwan has not skated competitively since 2005 but had pondered making a return to the ice in hopes of earning a spot in the U.S. team for the 2010 Games.

However, Friday's statement declared that she has decided not to compete the 2009-2010 season and will attend graduate school at Tufts University near Boston working on a master's in international affairs.

"Skating will always be a part of me," said Kwan. "But in the bigger picture of my life, I have always wanted to find a career that will allow me to make a positive contribution and difference in the world."

Known, who settled for silver at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and bronze in 2002 at Salt Lake City, remains the United States most successful figure skater winning the world titles in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003 as well as nine U.S. national championships, including eight straight from 1998.

Michelle Kwan opts for academics over skating

Kwan announces she doesn't plan to compete in Vancouver Games: Michelle Kwan, a nine-time U.S. figure-skating champion, chose school over skating.

Kwan, 29, announced Friday she will not return to competitive skating in hopes of making next year's Vancouver Games. Instead, she will begin classes for a master's degree in international affairs at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

Kwan, who recently graduated from the University of Denver, already has made several trips as a public-diplomacy envoy for the State Department.

Kwan hasn't competed since an injury forced her to withdraw from the 2006 Olympics after a practice session; she eventually needed hip surgery.