Friday, October 28, 2005

Open water swimming to return as an Olympic Sport

There will be no women's boxing in Beijing (none official, anyway) but there will be a 10km open-water swimming race.

Although I am over-the-hill for such an event and watching such the race would be even more boring than most speed-swimming races, I am happy to hear about the inclusion of the 10km swim. I have competed a 12km swimming race and in several 1 mile, 3 mile, and 3 km races.

I hope this news reinvigorates a summer sports camp I worked at back home. We'll see how many Camp Chikopi (boys) and Akomak (girls) alumni will be in Beijing.

3 comments:

Mark Rauterkus said...

We had a great time at Chikopi in Canada in the past two weeks. I'm not sure how many former campers are going to be at the Olympics in China -- but there could be some!

Watch for photos of our camp experience in the weeks to come at my blog. And, perhaps we should talk off-line about another long-term project where you might be able to assist.

Anonymous said...

Hey. Do you know of any goodlinks for open water swims in Seoul or Korea? Thanks. Dog-man

kwandongbrian said...

Short answer: No.

I do know that children swim across the Han River once a year in some traditional race but not when. The thought of swimming in that river is a little disgusting to me, but maybe its not so bad.
Haeundae (Pusan Beach) has a polar bear swim in January but no measured distance swims or races.
There are a few triathlons, one is held here in Sokcho in June.

I may try to look into it. I'd appreciate hearing from you if you find some.