The world swimmers

Nine short stories that move between Victoria’s Little Desert, Sydney’s Kings Cross, Japan’s Inland Sea, Okinawa and Los Angeles, 19th century Budapest, post-war Berlin… and a fantastical landscape of a far-flung future, this collection is an exciting contribution to international and Australian writing about place.

The world-swimmers

For days now you have been driving across unbroken grassland, which you know you’ll never be able to leave behind forever, no matter how fast you might go, or however deep into the night you persist in your journey. The northern coast of your country is far in the distance and darkness, yet nothing is clearer to you than the knowledge that the plain you once in a while spit into will surely not disappear when it gets to the water. You have faith it will move without interruption through the breakers, even picking up speed across the ocean, until there is no more ocean—and with all the more reality if it takes on a form you could not even begin to comprehend. After so much confusion—the wrack of entire cities on sickening flats of sand—this alone seems certain.

In-vivo cell mediated immunity in elite swimmers in response to training

This study investigated in-vivo cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses in elite swimmers over a 5-month training season, to assess the impact of intense training on changes in T-lymphocyte function. The CMI Multitest was performed early in the season after a period of rest, during peak high-intensity training, and late in the season during the precompetition taper period. The CMI tests were performed at rest prior to a morning training session. There were no significant differences between the swimmers and a control group for any of the seven CMI antigen responses at any of the test points during the season. In the swimmers, there were no significant differences in the number of positive responses to the CMI antigens between the three test points (Friedman's test = 9.6364, p = 0.47) and no significant differences for the CMI cumulative scores (Friedman's test = 11.98, p = 0.29) at each test point. There was no consistent pattern for changes in CMI cumulative scores for individual swimmers over the training season. The findings of this study indicate that, despite reported transient T-lymphocyte immunosuppression immediately after intense exercise, probably associated with acute redistribution and temporary pooling of blood T cell subsets in extremities, the T-lymphocyte function involved in CMI responses is not compromised by extended periods of training at an elite level.

Utility of the multi-component training distress scale to monitor swimmers during periods of training overload

The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of the multi-component training distress scale (MTDS), in monitoring swimmers prior to national competition. Twenty-one national-level adolescent swimmers completed eight weeks of testing. Once a week participants completed an 8 × 50 m sprint test,
vertical jump test, sit-and-reach test, the MTDS and the
Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (REST-Q). All testing
was incorporated into the swimmers’ normal training programme.
The REST-Q accounted for the following variances in performance:
flexibility (14.6%,p= 0.009), power output (17.7%,p= 0.003),swimming speed (15.5%,p
= 0.006) and swimming endurance(17.5%,p= 0.002). In comparison, the MTDS accounted for thefollowing variances in performance:
flexibility (12.1%, p= 0.095),power output (16.4%,p= 0.023), swimming speed (20.5%,p = 0.003) and swimming speed endurance (23.8%,p= 0.001).The findings of the current study suggest that both the REST-Q Sport and the MTDS have the capacity to predict performance on a range of fitness components associated with swimming.

Inadvertent doping through supplement use by athletes: assessment and management of the risk in Australia

Many athletes report using a wide range of special sports foods and supplements. In the present study of 77 elite Australian swimmers, 99% of those surveyed reported the use of these special preparations, with 94% of swimmers reporting the use of non-food supplements. The most popular dietary supplements were vitamin or mineral supplements (used by 94% of the group), herbal preparations (61%), and creatine (31%). Eighty-seven percent of swimmers reported using a sports drink or other energy-providing sports food. In total, 207 different products were reported in this survey. Sports supplements, particularly supplements presented as pills or other non-food form, are poorly regulated in most countries, with little assurance of quality control. The risk of an inadvertent "positive doping test" through the use of sports supplements or sports foods is a small but real problem facing athletes who compete in events governed by anti-doping rules. The elite swimmers in this survey reported that information about the "doping safety" of supplements was important and should be funded by supplement manufacturers. Although it is challenging to provide such information, we suggest a model to provide an accredited testing program suitable for the Australian situation, with targeted athlete education about the "sports safety" of sports supplements and foods.

Thermal comfort of multiple user groups in indoor aquatic centres

Aquatic centres are popular recreational facilities in Australia and other developed countries. These buildings have experienced exponential demand over the past few decades. The growing desire for better indoor environmental quality in aquatic centres has resulted in a marked increase in energy consumption in this sector. With the existence of multiple user groups, achieving thermal comfort has always been challenging. Even though several thermal comfort studies are conducted in other building types, such studies are very limited with respect to aquatic centres. This paper analyses the thermal comfort conditions of various user groups in seven aquatic centres in Australia. Comfort measurements are performed through monitoring environmental parameters and surveying swimmers, staff and spectators. The results revealed the variation of air temperatures among the buildings, resulting in high level of thermal discomfort for the spectators and staff in some of the buildings. The thermal sensation of the staff and spectators had good correlation with the indoor temperatures and PMVs. Altering temperature settings according to the seasons will help to improve the comfort with respect to the adaptation and expectation of the occupants.

Not so fast: swimming behavior of sailfish during predator-prey interactions using high-speed video and accelerometry

Billfishes are considered among the fastest swimmers in the oceans. Despite early estimates of extremely high speeds, more recent work showed that these predators (e.g., blue marlin) spend most of their time swimming slowly, rarely exceeding 2 m s(-1). Predator-prey interactions provide a context within which one may expect maximal speeds both by predators and prey. Beyond speed, however, an important component determining the outcome of predator-prey encounters is unsteady swimming (i.e., turning and accelerating). Although large predators are faster than their small prey, the latter show higher performance in unsteady swimming. To contrast the evading behaviors of their highly maneuverable prey, sailfish and other large aquatic predators possess morphological adaptations, such as elongated bills, which can be moved more rapidly than the whole body itself, facilitating capture of the prey. Therefore, it is an open question whether such supposedly very fast swimmers do use high-speed bursts when feeding on evasive prey, in addition to using their bill for slashing prey. Here, we measured the swimming behavior of sailfish by using high-frequency accelerometry and high-speed video observations during predator-prey interactions. These measurements allowed analyses of tail beat frequencies to estimate swimming speeds. Our results suggest that sailfish burst at speeds of about 7 m s(-1) and do not exceed swimming speeds of 10 m s(-1) during predator-prey interactions. These speeds are much lower than previous estimates. In addition, the oscillations of the bill during swimming with, and without, extension of the dorsal fin (i.e., the sail) were measured. We suggest that extension of the dorsal fin may allow sailfish to improve the control of the bill and minimize its yaw, hence preventing disturbance of the prey. Therefore, sailfish, like other large predators, may rely mainly on accuracy of movement and the use of the extensions of their bodies, rather than resorting to top speeds when hunting evasive prey.