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Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts

Ian Thorpe Documentary Reveals Swimming Technique Tips


Ian Thorpe Documentary Reveals Swimming Technique Tips

Effortless Swimming Head Coach Brenton Ford says the Ian Thorpe swimming documentary gives handy pointers to swimmers wanting to improve their style and stroke.


Next London Olympics 2012 : Ian Thorpe Documentary Reveals Swimming Technique Tips


Melbourne, Victoria (PRWEB) August 02, 2012
Ian Thorpe’s documentary 'Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer' has revealed some useful tips for swimmers of all levels.
The documentary, which aired on ABC1 last month, follows Ian Thorpe’s swimming comeback as he trained for the Olympic trials in Adelaide in March.
Ian Thorpe, who is Australia's most successful Olympian, began his comeback in October 2010 after a four-year break, with the London 2012 Olympics as his goal. Thorpe has previously won nine Olympic medals, five of them gold. His success has been attributed to his work ethic, mental strength, powerful kick and ability to accelerate.
His friends and filmmakers Gregor Jordan and Simone Kessell started interviewing and filming him as he prepared for the trials. The documentary is an intimate portrait of Ian Thorpe and his journey, but it is also gives some handy pointers to swimmers wanting to improve their style and stroke.
Thorpe has previously relied on his trademark six beat kick during his middle-distance races. However, his concentration on shorter distances during his comeback meant he had to change his swimming technique.
Effortless Swimming Head Coach Brenton Ford says it is a good opportunity to see how a successful swimmer works to improve his stroke to become more efficient.
“Thorpe had to change his stroke to suit 100 and 200 meter events. He had to move from a front quadrant style freestyle to a more rotatory style,” Brenton says. “This increases the stroke rate and changes the timing of the stroke. Rather than gliding long, the stroke is focused more on throwing yourself forward into the next stroke.”
Brenton says the technique Thorpe talks about in the documentary is something that every swimmer can aim to perfect.
“He spoke about 'easy speed', which is the feeling of swimming fast and feeling relaxed at the same time. That's the basis behind the Effortless Swimming Mastering Freestyle program that we created. To get faster, you need to stay relaxed as you swim,” Brenton explains.
Brenton has trained thousands of swimmers through Effortless Swimming, an innovative program to help swimmers rapidly improve their swimming style and technique, and squad training and says efficiency in swimming comes down to small changes to technique and trying different training methods.
Ian Thorpe has arrived in London to commentate for the BBC on the Olympic swimming events this week.
For more information about the Effortless Swimming program, visit http://www.effortlessswimming.com

London Olympics 2012 : Australian Magnussen Finds Form

London 2012: Magnussen Finds Form

James Magnussen went some way to exorcising the failure of Australia's Freestyle Relay team to get an Olympic medal as he produced a solid 100m heat performance.


Next London Olympics 2012 : Australian Magnussen Finds Form

(PRWEB) July 31, 2012
James Magnussen went some way to exorcising the failure of Australia's Freestyle Relay team to get an Olympic medal as he produced a solid 100m heat performance.
The world 100m Freestyle champion, known as 'the Missile', is a hot favourite to add the Olympic title to the world gold he secured last year in Shanghai and has clocked 47.10 already this year.
He qualified fourth overall in 48.38, with USA swimmer Nathan Adrian fastest in 48.19.
Magnussen said: 'I think it was a step in the right direction, it was a good swim.
'It's an improvement from the other night, I am keeping positive with a smile on my face.
'I took a fair hit in the relay, I am still trying to bounce back from it. It was one of my first failures since breaking into the international scene.
'It is quite an open field in the 100m, if I can get myself back to the sort of form I had at the trials, I have a good chance of winning it.'
Daniel Gyurta headed the 200m Breaststroke heats, while the USA qualified fastest for tonight's 4 x 200m Relay final in 7:06.75.
There was a shock in the women's 200m Butterfly, where Great Britain's world silver medallist Ellen Gandy finished 17th, with USA swimmer Kathleen Hersey leading the way in 2:06.41.
For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office.
Major loss for the Australian Labor Party

Major loss for the Australian Labor Party

The election in Queensland is devastating for the Australian Labor party.

With about 70 percent of the vote from Saturday's poll counted, the Liberal National Party (LNP), led by former Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, has won 78 of the state's 89 parliamentary seats while the Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh has seen its representation slashed from 51 to 7.
Bligh accepted responsibility for the defeat and despite winning her own seat of South Brisbane, announced her resignation from politics.
That triggers an immediate by-election, further threatening Labor's weak showing in the state. . . .


The sea change in Australian politics:

“Since Labor won the 2007 federal election, it’s lost power in the four most important states, significantly reducing its influence,” said Hughes. “Gillard may be starting to feel a bit lonely in Canberra as she doesn’t have many friends left in the states.” . . .


New South Wales 2011 election

The NSW Coalition, which won more than half the primary vote, is poised to secure 67 seats in a 93-seat lower house, with Labor's numbers more than halved. The ALP is currently on 19, with three independents and four seats undecided. The two-party swing is estimated at 16.5 per cent, with a two-party preferred vote of 63.9 per cent for the Coalition to Labor's 36.1 per cent. . . .


Victorian election 2010 results show Labor could lose 13 seats

A HUGE swing against Labor has brought down many long-standing MPs with the election results expected to see as many as 13 seats lost. . . .


Oldest election

South Australia Election March 2010

In South Australia, with 73 percent of the vote counted so far, Labor suffered a 7.3 percent “swing” against it, compared with the last election in 2006. The Rann government is predicted to retain 25 of its 28 seats, with the Liberals winning 18, and independents 4. Liberal leader Isobel Redmond, however, is yet to concede defeat.
If, as looks likely, Labor again forms government, it will do so having lost the two-party preferred vote. Labor won just 38 percent of tallied primary votes, the Liberals 41.4 percent, the Greens 7.8 percent (up 1.4 percent from 2006), and right-wing Christian outfit Family First 5.3 percent (down 0.6 percent).
Gun permits almost double over last 5 years in New South Wales Australia

Gun permits almost double over last 5 years in New South Wales Australia

Gun control groups in Australia aren't happy with this.

THE number of gun permits issued in NSW has almost doubled in the past five years, sparking calls for restrictions on how many guns people can acquire.
Figures from the NSW firearms registry show 111,792 permits to acquire a firearm were issued in 2009 and 2010. That was 29,427 more than for the previous two-year period. In 2005 and 2006, there were 65,997 permits issued.
The National Coalition for Gun Control, which obtained the latest figures under freedom-of-information laws, says that the increase is linked to the scrapping of a 28-day waiting period for a second or subsequent firearm. . . .

The Australian Election Results



News.com.au has this breakdown for the voting. This one remaining seat in Hasluck may determine everything. The Coalition needs this seat to be able to form a government. The best outcome might be for the Coalition to get 73 seats to Labor's 72, but have Labor form the government. Some seats may yet change and the Hasluck seat may still go either way because of so-called preferential voting, where the preferences of voters lower level choices are given weight when their first choice isn't among the top two finishers.
More on Australia's gun laws

More on Australia's gun laws

I haven't read the research so I can't vouch for its quality (indeed I haven't seen the paper yet), but the Sydney University journal Current Issues in Criminal Justice has a paper studying Australia's gun laws and finds:

“In the case of firearms legislation, the studies all point in the same direction – no impact on firearm homicide, and no conclusions about firearm suicides because non-firearm suicides were also falling.”
Gun Regulations become slightly loser in one part of Australia

Gun Regulations become slightly loser in one part of Australia

From New South Wales:

GUN ownership is booming again in NSW, with 40,000 new firearms registered in the past four years.

The rise coincides with a deal cut by the State Government and the Shooters Party to water down tough gun laws introduced in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

Figures from the NSW Firearm Registry obtained by the National Coalition of Gun Control show gun ownership has risen at the rate of 10,000 a year since 2004 to 687,138 in October this year.

Multiple gun ownership has also soared. The number of people receiving permits to obtain a second or subsequent firearm in 2006 was 32,616.

In the first 10 months of this year, 43,095 such permits were issued. . . .

Despite the worrying figures, the Government and the Shooters Party have quietly agreed to a number of changes to gun laws introduced by former premier Bob Carr after the Port Arthur killings.

Shooting clubs will no longer have their licences automatically revoked for not disqualifying members who have been convicted of firearms offences.

Previously, the police commissioner could immediately revoke a club's licence for not taking action against a convicted member.

In another change, the mandatory 28-day waiting period before a second or third gun can be acquired has also been scrapped.

The Government has also made it easier for men who have previously been the subject of apprehended violence orders to regain a gun licence. . . .
Australian gun regulations on murder

Australian gun regulations on murder

Did the Australian gun regulations reduce murder? Time has this discussion:

"The hypothesis that the removal of a large number of firearms owned by civilians [would lead to fewer gun-related deaths] is not borne out by the evidence." - Samara McPhedran, University of Sydney academic


I wish that they had discussed other types of crime.
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