Results tagged “swimming” from Birmingham Post - News Blog

Its day 10 for S&X in Beijing and day 4 of the swimming! We're having a fantastic time but there just aren't enough hours in the day. We leave our apartments at 7am to get to the Water Cube in time for the warm-ups and don't get back 'til after the evening heats finish at 10 o clock at night!

As you'll know by now, Michael Phelps is well on his way to achieving 8 gold medals after having just taken his fifth in the 800 metre freestyle relay this morning. He actually won two medals in under an hour before it was time for elevenses. I think I was still on my second cup of coffee whilst he was winning his second gold medal!

Talking of medals, since we got here we have been fielding calls about how swimmers wearing the Speedo LZR Racer have broken 48 world records since its launch in February. I know it's a bit of a shameless plug but since the games started 4 days ago, that number has shot up to 62! Fourteen records in four days? That's good going!

We recently worked the Speedo 'Meet the Parents' event where we gave the media exclusive access to elite swimmers' families. Access Hollywood's Billy Bush, George Bush's cousin, came along, who I'd met previously at the USA swimmers' press conference - he almost sent me flying in the scrum to get to Michael! He absolutely loved meeting Debbie Phelps, Michael's mum because she's so friendly and chatty, she's a dream interviewee for the press because the pride she has for Michael and the enthusiasm she has for swimming as a sport is so obvious. The press scrum for her was almost as mad as the scrum for Michael.

American swimmer and US Playboy model Amanda Beard's parents put in an appearance and Natalie Coughlin, also American, had her parents come along as well. Australian Grant Hackett's parents are really nice too; they are all so enthusiastic about their children's achievements. They mostly watch the events from the Speedo Sports Club on the huge plasma screens so that they don't get hassled by the media but sometimes they come and sit with us in the Water Cube. We sat with Australian swimmer Bronte Barratt's parents the other day when she came fourth in the 200m freestyle semi-final and we really felt for them, but she still clocked a qualifying time for the final!

Despite the fact that everyone covering the Games has been here for a week at least, ourselves included, everyone is still a tad 'lost in translation' from time to time. I'm still at the point where I'm finding it fun and interesting although it's not much fun trying to translate your destination to a taxi driver when you've got a story to file!

It's been a real buzz to go to the Water Cube to work for the last 5 days. The foyer is seriously impressive with the bubbles that crown the building forming the windows. The poolside is really light and airy without a strip light in sight and a sea of bubbles adorns the ceiling. Though I have to admit, when US swimmer Ryan Lochte's in the pool I'm not exactly looking at the ceiling!

The swimming ends on Sunday and then we are managing a Meet the Coaches event and looking after media on the red carpet at the Athlete Wrap Party, so I'll be back to bring you the news from there as soon as I have it. Zai Jian for now!