Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to some disappointing news from About.com Diving: So Close, Boudia & McCrory Finish Fifth. Dang! We just can’t catch a break!

The Swimmers Circle also posted a breakdown of the event, but I thought I’d throw my two cents in with a data-driven perspective.

Using data from DiveMeets.com, along with the prelim and final scores, we can see exactly where Boudia and McCrory faltered. If they had done an “average” meet, they would have been good for silver with a 456.46. However, this graph comes with a silver lining, because the pair started and finished better than you would typically expect!

Check out this video from Red Bull Cliff Diving. It’s cliff diving all-star Orlando Duque at the Red Bull Diagnostics and Training Center in Thalgau, Austria doing some physical therapy for a fractured ankle. Having been through a similar ankle fracture (and subsequent surgery) myself, I was fascinated to see the innovative therapy he is receiving.

Watch the video below to see Orlando’s rehabilitation regime, which includes juggling on a balance beam!

This visualization was really fun to make! I started with NFHS data for 2009-2010 state high school swimming and diving participants (for some reason, Idaho, Tennessee and South Dakota were missing data). Next, I divided number of high school swimming participants by 2010 Census state population data and multiplied by 1000.

The result is a heat map of what I’m calling “relative interest in swimming” as represented by the number of high school swimming participants per 1000 state residents. So for every 1000 residents, this number represents how many high school swimmers you would find. It’s a little clumsy, but should give you some idea in the level of interest the states have in high school swimming.

I was actually surprised to see some of the states with smaller populations (such as Wyoming) actually have a disproportional participation in swimming – so with fewer high school students overall, they had the highest relative interest in swimming.

The top 5 states with the most high school swimmers relative to state population were: Minnesota (1.65), Wyoming (1.65), Deleware (1.62), Pennsylvania (1.55) and Connecticut (1.35).

Even though the number of high school swimmers in California (48,483) and Texas (14,286) are impressive stats, these states end up 8th and 41st in respective interest level because of their large state populations.

The resulting graph shows a cross-over point where a number of factors caused girls’ team size to increase while boys’ team size decreased. It’s difficult to determine what factors (budget, interest, accessibility, etc.) contribute to changes in team size, but I’m guessing Title IX (1972) had a lot to do with it.

The sport of swimming fluctuates in popularity, and usually experiences an increase following the Olympic cycle. According to a survey by the National Sporting Goods Association, swimming is the 3rd most popular sport based on participation (not necessarily formal participation on a team).

In fact, an estimated 51,900,000 people (age 7 and up) participated in swimming during 2010, an increase of 3.4% since 2008. (Participation, based on the survey parameters, means swimming at least 6 times during the year). The only “sports” ahead of swimming were Exercising with Equipment and Exercise Walking.

More swimmers means more swimsuits, and an opportunity to reach new communities. Recently, Kast-A-Way Swimwear was awarded the chance to open a retail Pro Shop inside the new Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. As construction draws to a close, the GAC will become a state-of-the-art aquatics facility with 3 pools and a seating capacity of 2,500. The facilities should be open to the public on September 12, following a Grand Opening celebration the last week of August.

The GAC already has plans to host the YMCA National Short Course Swimming Championship competition on April 2, 2012, and the 2012 USMS Spring Nationals.

For more information on the Greensboro Aquatic Center, visit greensboroaquaticcenter.com, or follow the GAC on Facebook.

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Why an 8-pack and not a 6-pack? From the press release:

Shifting from a Six-Pack to an Eight-Pack of Olympic athletes is another part of Coke’s continued efforts to offer consumers new ways to experience the brands and beverages they love. Recently the Company evolved its packaging lineup to include eight-packs of 90 calorie mini-cans and a new 1.25 liter contour bottle to better meet the needs of consumers in the same way its Olympic Eight-Pack will fuel America ‘s passion for the Olympic Games.

David Boudia is the obvious choice for an “Eight-Pack” marketing campaign…

The Coca-Cola “Eight-Pack” of athletes includes:

• David Boudia – silver medalist in men’s platform (10M diving) at 2008 FINA Diving World Cup and winner of 14 national diving titles; 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials 10M Dive Champion; member of the 2008 Olympic Team
• Henry Cejudo – 2008 Olympic gold medalist in 55kg freestyle division (wrestling); youngest American wrestler ever to win an Olympic gold medal at 21 years of age
• Marlen Esparza – 2010 U.S. national champion in women’s boxing; gold medalist at the 2008 Pan American Games; longest winning streak at the U.S. nationals and undefeated in every U.S. event competed in the last five years; number one ranked female amateur flyweight boxer in U.S. for the last five consecutive years
• John Isner – currently ranked 39 th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) standings; winner of record-breaking singles tennis match at Wimbledon ; which lasted for 11 hours and 5 minutes; widely recognized as having one of the hardest serves on the ATP Tour
• Shawn Johnson – winner of one gold and three silver medals in women’s gymnastics at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team; three-time gold medalist at the 2007 World Championships in All-Around, Floor, and Team; and four-time gold medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games in All-Around, Balance Beam, Floor and Team; and 2008 Olympic Trials All-American champion
• Jessica Long – seven-time Paralympic Gold medalist in women’s swimming; member of 2004 and 2008 U.S. Paralympic Teams; 2008 Paralympian of the Year; seven-time World Championship gold medalist and two-time silver medalist in 2010
• Alex Morgan – drafted number one overall in the 2011 Women’s Professional Soccer Draft; youngest member on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
• David Oliver – Beijing 2008 Olympic medalist in men’s 110M hurdles; member of 2008 U.S. Olympic team; 2010 Male Track & Field Athlete of the Year; 2010 U.S. Outdoor Champion

From redbullcliffdiving.com:

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion Gary Hunt traveled to the Olympic swimming pool in Athens to dive with the legendary Olympic gold medalist, Greg Louganis, ahead of the third stop in the Series.

Louganis will be a celebrity judge for tomorrow’s cliff diving competition in Athens, Greece. The event will be webcast live on Redbull.TV. Tune in to cheer on Purdue diving alum, Steven LoBue!

Steven LoBue, a Big Ten diving alumnus from Purdue University (2003-2007), recently qualified for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Steven was among the top 7 finishers in a qualifying event at the Hawkesbury River in Sydney, Australia – which guaranteed him a spot on the 2011 World Series (schedule).

From left to right: Michal Navratil, Slava Polyeshchuk, Andrey Ignatenko, Cyrille Oumedjkane, Sasha Kutsenko, Alain Kohl and Steven Lobue

The seven qualifiers in Australia will join Gary Hunt, Orlando Duque, Artem Silchenko, Kent De Mond and Hassan Mouti to make up the field for the 2011 World Series which begins in Rapa Nui on March 12 (source).

I can’t believe I dove against Steven in college, and now he’s 1 of 12 cliff divers on an international circuit! That’s so cool!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the competition in La Rochelle (FRA) will be held after dark. The cliff diving event will be lit by floodlight for a new look at an already extreme sport! Yikes, good luck with that!

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