Introduction and

History of Swimming
 What is *Swimming is individual or
Swimming? team racing
sport that requires the use of
one's entire body to move
through water
 the self-propulsion of a person
through water, usually for Swimming is consistently among the
recreation, sport, exercise, or top public recreational activities, and in
survival. Locomotion is achieved some countries, swimming lessons are
through coordinated movement of a compulsory part of the educational
the limbs and the body. Humans curriculum. As a formalized sport,
can hold their breath underwater swimming features in a range of local,
and undertake rudimentary national, and international
locomotive swimming within competitions, including every modern
weeks of birth, as a survival Summer Olympics.
response
ANCIENT TIMES
• 10,000-year-old rock paintings of people swimming were
found in the Cave of Swimmers near Wadi Sura in
southwestern Egypt. These pictures seem to show breast
stroke or doggy paddle and there are written references in
the Bible and the Greek poems "The Iliad" and "The
Odyssey" doting back 1,500 to 2,000 years. There are even
Egyptian day seals from 4000 BC showing four swimmers
doing a version of the crawl, and the most famous
swimming drawings were apparently found in the Kebir
desert and were estimated to also be from around 4000
BC.e front crawl.
Cave of Swimmers
 In early modern era swimming became less popular, since swimming was done in a state of undress,
society became more conservative in the early modern period.
• In 1587, Everard Digby also wrote a swimming
• In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss–
book, claiming that humans could swim
German professor of languages, better than fish. Digby was a Senior Fellow at
wrote the earliest known complete St. John's College, Cambridge and was
book about swimming, Colymbetes, interested in the scientific method. His short
sive de arte natandi dialogus et treatise, De arte natandi, was written in Latin
festivus et iucundus lectu (The and contained over 40 woodcut illustrations
Swimmer, or A Dialogue on the Art of depicting various methods of swimming,
Swimming and Joyful and Pleasant to including the breaststroke, backstroke and
Read). His purpose was to reduce the crawl. Digby regarded the breaststroke as the
dangers of drowning. The book most useful form of swimming.
contained a good methodical • In 1595, Christopher Middleton wrote "A short
approach to learning breaststroke, introduction for to learne to swimme", that
and mentioned swimming aids such was the first published guide recording
as air filled cow bladders, reed drawings and examples of different swimming
bundles, and cork belts styles.
• In 1603, Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan declared
that schoolchildren should swim.
 The book "A short introduction for to
learne to swimme"- British library
Lifebelt sketch by Leonardo da Vinci
• In 1696, the French author Melchisédech • In 1798, GutsMuths wrote another book Kleines
Thévenot wrote The Art of Swimming, Lehrbuch der Schwimmkunst zum
describing a breaststroke very similar to the Selbstunterricht (Small study book of the art of
swimming for self-study), recommending the
modern breaststroke. This book was
use of a "fishing rod" device to aid in the
translated into English and became the
learning of swimming.
standard reference of swimming for many • His books describe a three-step approach to
years to come. learning to swim that is still used today. First,
get the student used to the water; second,
• In 1793, GutsMuths from Schnepfenthal, practice the swimming movements out of the
Germany, wrote Gymnastik für die Jugend water; and third, practice the swimming
(Exercise for youth), including a significant movements in the water.
portion about swimming. • He believed that swimming is an essential part
of every education. The Haloren, a group of salt
• In 1794, Kanonikus Oronzio de Bernardi of makers in Halle, Germany, greatly advanced
Italy wrote a two volume book about swimming through setting a good example to
swimming, including floating practice as a others by teaching their children to swim at a
prerequisite for swimming studies. very early age.
 The winning medal went to 'Flying Gull' who swam the
130-foot length in 30 seconds – the Native American
swimming method proved to be a much faster style than
the British breaststroke.

Swimming emerged as a competitive sport in the early The Times of London reported disapprovingly that the
1800s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming Native American stroke was an unrefined motion with the
pool, St George's Baths, was opened to the public.
arms "like a windmill" and the chaotic and unregulated
By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding kicking of the legs.
regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming The considerable splashing that the stroke caused was
pools, built around London. deemed to be barbaric and "un-European" to the British
gentlemen, who preferred to keep their heads over the
The sport grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first water. Subsequently, the British continued to swim only
national governing body, the Amateur Swimming breaststroke until 1873. The British did, however, adapt the
Association, was formed, there were already over 300 breaststroke into the speedier sidestroke, where the
regional clubs in operation across the country. swimmer lies to one side; this became the more popular
In1844 a swimming competition was held in London with choice by the late 1840s. In 1895, J. H. Thayers of England
the participation of two Native Americans. The British swam 100 yards (91 m) in a record-breaking 1:02.50 using
competitor used the traditional breaststroke, while the a sidestroke
Native Americans swam a variant of the front crawl,
which had been used by people in the Americas for
generations, but was not known to the British.
Les Nageurs (The Swimmers)
 In his stroke, the arms were brought
Sir John Arthur Trudgen picked up the
forward, alternating, while the body rolled
hand-over stroke from South American
from side to side. The kick was a scissors
natives he observed swimming on a trip to
kick such as that familiarly used in
Buenos Aires.
breaststroke, with one kick for two arm
On his return to England in 1868, he strokes, although it is believed that the
successfully debuted the new stroke in Native Americans had indeed used a
1873 and won a local competition in 1875. flutter kick. Front crawl variants used
Although the new stroke was really the different ratios of scissor kicks to arm
reintroduction of a more intuitive method strokes, or alternated with a flutter (up-
for swimming, one that had been in and-down) kick.
evidence in ancient cultures such as The speed of the new stroke was
Ancient Assyria, his method revolutionized demonstrated by F.V.C. Lane in 1901,
the state of competitive swimming – his swimming 100 yards (91 m) in 1:00.0, an
stroke is still regarded as the most powerful improvement of about ten seconds
to use today. compared to the breaststroke record. Due
to its speed the Trudgen became very
quickly popular around the world, despite
all the ungentleman-like splashing
Captain Matthew Webb was the Nancy Edberg popularized women's
first man to swim the English swimming in Stockholm from 1847.
Channel (between England and She made swimming lessons
France), in 1875. He used accessible for both genders and later
breaststroke, swimming 21.26
introduced swimming lessons for
miles (34.21 km) in 21 hours and
45 minutes. His feat was not women in Denmark and Norway. Her
replicated or surpassed for the public swimming exhibitions from
next 36 years, until Bill Burgess 1856 with her students were likely
made the crossing in 1911. Other among the first public exhibitions of
European countries also women swimming in Europe.
established swimming
federations; Germany in 1882, In 1897, Capt. Henry Sheffield
France in 1890 and Hungary in
designed a rescue can or rescue
1896. The first European amateur
swimming competitions were in cylinder, now well known as the
1889 in Vienna. The world's first lifesaving device. The pointed ends
women's swimming championship made it slide faster through the water,
was held in Scotland in 1892. although it can cause injuries.
ENGLISH CHANNEL
Olympic games The second Olympic games in Paris in 1900
featured 200 m, 1000 m, and 4000 m
freestyle, 200 m backstroke, and a 200 m
The Olympic Games were held in 1896 in team race.
Athens, a male-only competition. Six
events were planned for the swimming There were two additional unusual swimming
events (although common at the time): an
competition, but only four events were
obstacle swimming course in the Seine river
actually contested: 100 m, 500 m, and 1200
(swimming with the current), and an
m freestyle and 100 m for sailors. underwater swimming race. The 4000 m
freestyle was won by John Arthur Jarvis in
The first gold medal was won by Alfréd under one hour, the longest Olympic
Hajós of Hungary in the 100 m freestyle. swimming race until the 10k marathon swim
Hajós was also victorious in the 1200 m was introduced in 2008.
event, and was unable to compete in the
500 m, which was won by Austrian Paul The backstroke was also introduced to the
Neumann. Olympic Games in Paris, as was water polo.
The Osborne Swimming Club from
Manchester beat club teams from Belgium,
France and Germany quite easily
Alfréd Hajós, swimmer who won the
first Olympic Gold medal.
 The Trudgen stroke was improved by The Olympics in 1904 in St. Louis included
Australian-born Richmond Cavill. races over 50 yards (46 m), 100 yards, 220
Cavill, whose father Frederick Cavill yards (200 m), 440 yards, 880 yards (800 m)
narrowly failed to swim the English and one mile (1.6 km) freestyle, 100 yards (91
Channel, is credited with developing m) backstroke and 440 yards (400 m)
the stroke after observing a young boy breaststroke, and the 4x50 yards freestyle
from the Solomon Islands. Cavill and relay.
his brothers spread the Australian These games differentiated between
crawl to England, New Zealand and breaststroke and freestyle, so that there were
America. now two defined styles (breaststroke and
Richmond used this stroke in 1902 at backstroke) and freestyle, where most people
an International Championships in swam Trudgen.
England to set a new world record by These games also featured a competition to
out swimming all Trudgen swimmers plunge for distance, where the distance
over the 100 yards (91 m) in 0:58.4 without swimming, after jumping in a pool,
was measured.
 The Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft (DLRG)
In 1908, the world swimming association (German lifesaving organization) was established on
Fédération Internationale de Natation October 19, 1913 in Leipzig after 17 people drowned
Amateur (FINA) was formed. while trying to board the cruise steamer Kronprinz
Wilhelm. In the same year the first elastic swimsuit
Women werae first allowed to swim in the was made by the sweater company Jantzen.
1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm,
competing in freestyle races. In the 1912 In 1922, Johnny Weissmuller became the first person
games, Harry Hebner of the United States to swim the 100 m in less than a minute, using a six
won the 100 m backstroke. At these games kicks per cycle Australian crawl. Johnny Weissmuller
Duke Kahanamoku from Hawaii won the 100 started the golden age of swimming, winning five
m freestyle, having learned the six kicks per Olympic medals and 36 national championships and
cycle front crawl from older natives of his never losing a race in his ten-year career, until he
island. This style is now considered the retired from swimming and started his second career
classical front crawl style. The men's starring as Tarzan in film. His record of 51 seconds in
competitions were 100 m, 400 m, and 1500 100-yard (91 m) freestyle stood for over 17 years. In
m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, 200 m and the same year, Sybil Bauer was the first woman to
400 m breaststroke, and four by 200 m break a men's world record over the 440 m
freestyle relay. The women's competitions backstroke in 6:24.8.
were 100 m freestyle and four by 100 m
freestyle relay. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, lane dividers
made of cork were used for the first time, and lines on
the pool bottom aided with orientation.
Competitive swimming became popular
The practice of reducing exercise in the
in the 19th century. The goal of high
days just before an important
level competitive swimming is to break
competition is called tapering. Tapering
personal or world records while beating
is used to give the swimmer's body
competitors in any given event.
some rest without stopping exercise
Swimming in competition should create
completely. A final stage is often
the least resistance in order to obtain
referred to as "shave and taper": the
maximum speed. However, some
swimmer shaves off all exposed hair
professional swimmers who do not hold
for the sake of reducing drag and
a national or world ranking are
having a sleeker and more
considered the best in regard to their
hydrodynamic feel in the water.
technical skills. Typically, an athlete
Additionally, the "shave and taper"
goes through a cycle of training in
method refers to the removal of the top
which the body is overloaded with work
layer of "dead skin", which exposes the
in the beginning and middle segments
newer and richer skin underneath. This
of the cycle, and then the workload is
also helps to "shave" off mere
decreased in the final stage as the
milliseconds on your time
swimmer approaches competition.
summary:
• swimming can be dated back to the stone age but did not truly become an organized sport until
the early 19th century where historic man learned to swim in order to cross rivers and
lakes we know this because cave paintings from the stone age depicting swimmers has been
found in egypt
• swimming was also referred to in greek mythology, swimming was not widely practiced until
the early 19th century when the national swimming society of great britain
• Began to hold competitions most early swimmers used the breast stroke or a form of it based
on a stroke used by native south americans the first version of the crawl featured a scissorkick
• In the late 1880s an englishman named Frederick Cavill traveled to the south seas where he
saw that natives were performing a crawl with a flutter kick, Cavill settled in australia where
he thought the stroke that was to become the famous australian crawl
summary:
• Swimming has featured in a program of all editions of the game since 1896.
• The very first olympic events were freestyle or breast stroke, backstroke was added in 1904.
• In the 1940s breast strokes discovered that they could go faster by bringing both arms forward over
their heads this practice was immediately forbidden in this breast stroke but gave birth to butterfly
stroke whose first official appearance was at the 1956 games in melbourne.
• This style is now one of the four strokes used in competition.
• Women's swimming became olympic in 1912 at the stockholm games since then it has been part of
every edition of the games
• The men's and women's programs are almost identical as they contain the same number of events
• With only one difference the freestyle distance is 800 meters for woman- and 1500 meters for men