Dubai 2010: News and Notes from the Twittersphere

Though many, especially in the older generation, have written off Twitter by saying that nobody cares what everyone is having for breakfast every day of the week, you can glean a lot of useful information about your favorite celebrities. Swimmers have taken a special fondness to “tweeting” to keep everyone posted about what they’re up to. Here’s some notes about the upcoming World Championships that we were able to pull off of Twitter.

Remembering Fran Crippen: Natalie Coughlin posted a great picture on her Twitter of a patch that all of Team USA has on their gear in remembrance of Fran Crippen. This is a great tribute, and hopefully many more will follow.

At Last, He Has Arrived!: Thanks to an inquiry by everyone’s favorite Swim Geek, David Rieder, Garret Weber-Gale has confirmed that Team USA backstroker David Plummer has escaped the epic snowstorm in Minnesota and arrived in Dubai safe-and-sound. I’m not concerned about if the short adjustment period will affect him: any swimmer who willingly spurns the sunny pastures of Florida, California, and Texas to do their post-graduate training in Minnesota has gotta be tough.

GWG also provided visual evidence:

Mr. Popularity: Both Ryan Lochte and Ricky Berens Tweeted about how much they miss Cullen Jones on this trip….also, apparently Lochte makes a terrible partner in spades. I’d say he more than makes up for that in the pool.

Birds of a Feather: Sprinters stick together. This morning, Jessica Hardy and Kara Lynn Joyce, Team USA’s two 50 freestylers, stopped by the Durj Al-Arab hotel in Dubai. That’s the big one shaped like a sailboat. Hardy tweets that she enjoyed a cup of coffee…filled with flakes of Gold. Didn’t she read our list of 7 mistakes not to make right before a Championship meet? Then again, she had a little “gold” in her diet in at Pan Pacs too, if you know what I mean.

The Thinker: Garrett Weber-Gale might be the deepest member of Team USA and is certainly the most active tweeter. His tweets about Dubai have gone beyond the awesomeness and impressiveness of the buildings and into some very insightful cultural observations. For example, earlier today, he tweeted that he had a very interesting conversation with the guy who was fixing his air conditioner about the man’s life (he was an Indian working in Dubai so that he could send money home to his family). The man is truly taking advantage of being a World-Class athlete in that he’s using his abilities as a vehicle to travel the world and experience different cultures: both within and outside of the sport. Great stuff.

Photos of Awesomeness: Just like the rest of the architecture in Dubai, this facility is unbelievably impressive. I mean, the place looks like a basketball arena, but designed specifically for swimming. Dubai has already made a mess of this event in a lot of ways, notably with the Israeli situation, but They really outdid themselves with the facility.

Talk About “Getting in the Right Mindset”: Dominik Meichtry, who is a member of Switzerland’s National Team and long-time boyfriend of Jessica Hardy, tweeted that he was not only making a music playlist to get himself pumped pre-race, but he was also making one to listen to while shaving. Dedication is a full-time job.

Remember, prelims start tonight at 10 o’clock US Eastern Time, so stay tuned for the action!

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13 years ago

Pics not coming through, not sure if its my comp our not.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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