Streamlined News

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 29. THE University of Florida’s postgraduate team – particularly the backstrokers — are becoming accident-prone lately, with Gemma Spofforth added to the list of swimmers there who have gone to the hospital for injuries.

On Saturday, Spofforth Tweeted that she was in the hospital getting treatment for a broken nose and a broken toe after falling off her bicycle. We won’t show you the photos Spofforth posted on her Twitter account of her face after getting treated at the hospital, but you can go to her Twitter account and see them there. Spofforth is the third Florida swimmer to have a vehicle-related accident in the past couple of months. In June, Ryan Lochte and Marco Loughran sustained minor injuries after an accident on Lochte’s scooter. Neither required extensive treatment, and we all know how Lochte swam at world championships about a month later.

We are just learning that George Bovell was involved in a car crash on August 20 that resulted in a concussion and a battery of tests at the hospital in Trinidad to rule out any neurological damage. According to the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Bovell was leaving a training session in the pool that day to head to the beach for some spearfishing. The article states that the brakes on Bovell’s BMW weren’t functioning properly as he rounded a sharp turn in the road. He attempted to avoid an oncoming truck. Bovell was released from the hospital the following day and is reportedly resting at home. Bovell is slated to compete at the Pan-American Games, and there is no word on the status of that at the moment.

After a weeklong dry spell with no competitions going on around the world, Brazil kicks things up again with the Jose Finkel Trophy meet today. The meet will be one of the many meets which serves as a chance to make the Brazilian Olympic team. The Brazilian Swimming Federation has released the qualifying times, and they’re all faster than the FINA A cut. Cesar Cielo, Thiago Pereira and Felipe Silva are the three top swimmers who have already swum faster than the Olympic qualifying times set by Brazil, and possibly by the end of this week, more will be added to the Olympic roster. Cielo, Pereira and Silva will be at the meet this week, along with a few top foreign swimmers who swam well at worlds. Inge Dekker was part of the Dutch 400 free relay that won gold, and she also picked up a world title in the 50 fly. Mireia Belmonte won three golds at the short course worlds last winter and placed fourth in the 400 IM in Shanghai. Prelims begin this evening in Rio de Janeiro, and Swimming World will bring you results from the first morning finals session tomorrow.

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