LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 17. ON Monday, FINA formally announced the suspensions of two athletes for doping violations. Poland's Paula Zukowska and Brazil's Hugo Parisi will both be out of competition for a period of time following these decisions.

Zukowska tested positive for Methylhexaneamine, a stimulant often sold as a nasal decongestant or a dietary supplement, at Poland&#

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 17. SWIMMING World Magazine caught up for some Q&A with Olympic medalist George Bovell. Although he is currently in Michigan training at Club Wolverine with Mike Bottom and Mark Hill, Bovell is originally from the small Caribbean Island Trinidad and Tobago.

Swimming World got to know Bovell better as the four-time Olympian answered questions about island training, hi

By David Rieder

CANET, France, June 16. THE Mare Nostrum series concluded Sunday with three performances that rank in the top two in the world, two of them from Danes, to round out a strong week of performances on the Mediterranean coast.

Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen Gray kicked off the day's action with a 25.56 in the women's 50 fly. That surpasses her 25.69 from la

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 16. 2012 world champion Mads Glaesner of Denmark has drawn a three-month doping suspension according to Swimming World correspondent Rokur Jakupsstovu .

The Danish Swimming Federation announced the ban, which Jakupsstovu explains in English for his readers. The positive test came at the 2012 World Short Course Championships in Instanbul, where he tested po

By David Rieder

ROME, Italy, June 15. FOUR different Olympic champions from 2012 won event victories during the final day of action at the 50th annual Sette Colli meet, highlighted by a swift 200 free from France's Camille Muffat.

Muffat won the event in 1:56.01, a time which no one else has bettered this year. Muffat, the Olympic silver medalist in the 200 free and gold med

CANET, France, June 15. THE first night of the two-day Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum produced some seriously strong swimming just a month-and-a-half out from the World Championships in Barcelona.

Jeanette Ottesen Gray vaulted to seventh in the world rankings this year with a winning time of 24.76 in the women's 50-meter freestyle event. That put her ahead of Aliaksandra Herasimeni

By Steven V. Selthoffer, Chief European Columnist, Swimming World Magazine

CAIRO, Egypt, June 14. YES. That's right. Look over your shoulder. Team Egypt is producing world-class swimmers.

At the Belgian Open Championships in May in Antwerp, Egyptian Ahmed Akram Abbas, posted a 15:10.99 in the men's 1500m free... and he is only 16 years old.

The win moved Ahmed up t

ROME, Italy, June 14. HUNGARY won four of 10 events today at the 50th annual Sette Colli meet, with Zsuzsanna Jakabos leading the way with a tough double.

Jakabos started the finals session with a win in the 200 fly, posting a 2:08.19 ahead of teammate Liliana Szilagyi's 2:08.48. Jakabos has been a little faster with a 2:07.38 to her credit from March. It's a major improvement fo

ROME, Italy, June 13. FRANCE'S Camille Muffat continues to post impressive times in the 400 freestyle, the event in which she won Olympic gold last year, routing the field at the Sette Colli Trophy meet today. The long course competition is featuring some top swimmers from Brazil, Hungary, France and the Netherlands, among other countries.

In a field that included world record holder

Amanda Zheng, an 11-year-old fifth grader, is from Thomas P. Hughes elementary school in Berkeley Heights, N.J. She also is a competitive swimmer at Berkeley Aquatic Club under Jim Wood, and her coach, Tristan Formon. Amanda is also a member of New Jersey Youth Symphony where she plays the flute.

When you go to swimming practice, or a swimming meet, do you ever take a moment to thin

By David Rieder

BARCELONA, Spain, June 12. ONE day after setting a , Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte chased her own continental mark in the 100 breast today, falling just short of it on the second day of competition at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum tour.

Meilutyte, the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 breast, posted a 1:05.21 today at the Sant Andreu pool in Barcelon

By guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

As athletes, we know what it is like to set that big goal: a goal that often takes more than a decade to achieve. We work hard, we sacrifice, and we do everything else we can think of to make our dream a reality. But sometimes, factors completely out of our control get in the way and do not simply take us off the

Guest commentary by Pam Roberts

I am a fan of Ryan Lochte.

A simple enough statement. Something I've been saying for years now. But also a statement that usually results in questions like, But why? For the longest part, it was because in my home country of Germany swimmers like Michael Phelps or the locals Britta Steffen and Paul Biedermann are simply better known for their

By David Rieder

BARCELONA, Spain, June 11. OLYMPIC champion Ruta Meilutyte blasted through the 30-second barrier in the long course 50 breaststroke today at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum series, setting a European record in the process. Meanwhile, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom picked up two victories in the city which will host the FINA World Championships next month.

Mei

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, June 10. IT's only been a few weeks since , but one of the blowbacks of the court case came with some faulty reporting about the sentencing itself.

Unfortunately, the bulk of mainstream coverage referenced Curl as a hall of famer. In the sport of swimming, that statement definitively means you were inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, some

By guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

MISSION VIEJO, California, June 9. THERE is nothing like a best time in-season to give you a great confidence boost right before taper. How about a national record? Maybe a time that is ranked top five in the world?

After this evening's performances at the TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions

By David Rieder

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, June 9. THE first stop of the Mare Nostrum series in Monaco wrapped up with a handful of speedy swims, most notably from French swimmers Camille Muffat and Jeremy Stravius. Stravius took two event victories, while Muffat recorded a world-leading swim in the 400 free. In addition, the second day featured the four man semi-finals and two-man finals

By guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

MISSION VIEJO, California, June 8. THE training cycle: it has its motivating highs, but it also comes with some painfully discouraging lows. Not everyone will swim fast at the same time, even teammates following a similar program. Saturday finals at the TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions showed us th

By David Rieder

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, June 8. THE Mare Nostrum series opened in Monaco with several finals along with the second and third rounds of the Monaco 50s unique to this meet. Three Olympic gold medalists picked up wins on day one. Ruta Meilutyte highlighted the first day of action with a new European record in the women's 100 breast

Meilutyte put up a 1:05.20, clipp

By guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

MISSION VIEJO, California, June 7. THE second night at the TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions featured some fast swims, even though several winners were forced to race the clock. This is something to be expected at a meet that features a handful of big names but lacks the talent depth of a meet like

LONDON, Great Britain, June 7. IN a push to keep sports fans interested in Olympic sports outside of the years in which Olympics are held, International Olympic Committee presidential candidate Thomas Bach is pushing hard for a global television network that broadcasts sporting events in non-Olympic years.

Bach, currently serving as IOC vice president, is running to fill the seat President

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, June 6. IN June of 1973, ten swimmers and divers from the United States travelled to China. The trip was planned just a year after President Richard Nixon's historic visit, with the goal to use sports to foster the two countries' growing relationship.

The three-week trip marked one of the first exchanges between the US and China before the two countries

Preview by guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

Although it is not a repeat of the star-stacked cast we saw swim at the Arena Grand Prix in Santa Clara, the competition at this weekend's TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet is nothing to scoff at as even though many American superstars will be putting the finishing touches on their training as their

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 5. BEFORE he was a Paralympic gold and silver medalist, Lieutenant Bradley Snyder made his career as a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer. In the above interview, Snyder shares what he learned during his Navy experience and adjusting to life after being injured while on active duty.

In September 2011, Snyder was permanently blinded when he stepped on an impr

BARCELONA, Spain, June 5. WE'RE 44 days from the start of the FINA world aquatics championships, and host city Barcelona got into the spirit of aquatic sports with a special flash mob performance of the event's theme song, Planeta Agua (Planet Water).

Joining world championships mascot Xop at the Bernat Picornell pool (the water polo venue and the site of swimming competition at

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 5. SWIMMING Australia, still reeling from the aftershock of , was hit again with the announcement that EnergyAustralia was pulling its sponsorship just one year into a five-year contract.

Various media reports in Australia, including The Australian and the Brisbane Times, mention that EnergyAustralia comprised nearly half of Swimming Australia's revenue from cor

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 4. WHEN he isn't racing, Olympic gold medalist and food enthusiast Garrett Weber-Gale has been busy making waves outside of the pool. The co-founder recently launched a podcast, titled For the Love of Food.

My goal for the podcast is to help people build a closer relationship with food, and understand the dramatic difference it can make on the happine

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 3. THE Arena Grand Prix Series wrapped up this weekend in windy Santa Clara, California. The overall series winners for the men and women were crowned, with Missy Franklin taking the title for the women and Ryan Lochte for the men. Lochte took the overall win from longtime leader Tyler Clary after collecting four first place finishes in Santa Clara. Looks like Lochte

Column by guest writer Julia Wilkinson-Minks (2008 & 2012 Canadian Olympian)

Although the 2013 Arena Grand Prix held in Santa Clara may not have boasted the same impressive speed in every single final that we have seen the last few years, it still featured some great races, meet records, and very impressive swims for this time in the season. Walking away from the meet, there are so

AUSTRALIA, June 1. SWIMMING Australia President Barclay Nettlefold, who was reported for inappropriate comments to a female consultant, has been stood down.

Swimming Australia board member Nicole Livingstone and chief executive Mark Anderson announced the decision at the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre late yesterday following an emergency board meeting, as reported by Australian news

OAKVILLE, Ontario, Canada, May 31. THE Cecil Russell saga continues as his host club, the Dolphins Swim Club of Oakville, has been banned from competition by Swim Ontario for continuing to support the twice banned-for-life coach.

In an article by Kerry Gillespie of the Toronto Star, that Swim Ontario has terminated the club's membership or allowing Russell to continue being involve

AUSTRALIA, May 31. SWIMMING Australia President Barclay Nettlefold is under investigation after being accused of inappropriate behavior towards a female consultant for Swimming Australia, as reported by Adelaide Now. Mark Anderson, the new chief executive for Swimming Australia, has reportedly launched the investigation.

A member of the team staff made a formal complaint about an inappro

AUSTRALIA, May 31. BRISBANE will host the 2014 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships, as announced by Swimming Australia. The meet is used as a selection qualifier for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games team and will run April 1-6, 2014. It is the first time in eight years that the Championship returns to the state of Queensland.

Swimming Australia will see a lot of local competition th