Swimming (sport)
Swimming is an individual or team sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move
through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive
swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly,
backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual
events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay
consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke. The order for a medley relay
is: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. Swimming each stroke requires a set of
specific techniques; in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable
form for each individual stroke. There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps,
jewelry and injury tape that are allowed at competitions. Although it is possible for competitive
swimmers to incur several injuries from the sport, such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees,
there are also multiple health benefits associated with the sport.
History
Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest
evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10,000 years ago. Written references date
from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the
Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss
professor of languages, wrote the first book about swimming, The Swimmer or A Dialogue on
the Art of Swimming (Der Schwimmer oder ein Zweigespräch über die Schwimmkunst).
Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the
first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths was opened to the public. By 1837, the National
Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools,
built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first
national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already
over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.
In 1844 two Native American participants at a
swimming competition in London introduced the front crawl to a European audience. Sir John
Arthur Trudgen picked up the hand-over stroke from some South American natives and
successfully debuted the new stroke in 1873, winning a local competition in England. His stroke
is still regarded as the most powerful to use today.
Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel (between England and
France), in 1875. Using the breaststroke technique, he swam the channel 21.26 miles (34.21
km) in 21 hours and 45 minutes. His feat was not replicated or surpassed for the next 36 years,
until T.W. Burgess made the crossing in 1911.
Other European countries also established swimming federations; Germany in 1882, France in
1890 and Hungary in 1896. The first European amateur swimming competitions were in 1889 in
Vienna. The world's first women's swimming championship was held in Scotland in 1892.
Men's swimming became part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902,
the Australian Richmond Cavill introduced freestyle to the Western world. In 1908, the world
swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), was formed. Women's
swimming was introduced into the Olympics in 1912; the first international swim meet for
women outside the Olympics was the 1922 Women's Olympiad. Butterfly was developed in the
1930s and was at first a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in
1952.
Competetive Swimming
Competitive swimming became popular in the 19th century. The goal of high level competitive
swimming is to break personal or world records while beating competitors in any given event.
Swimming in competition should create the least resistance in order to obtain maximum speed.
However, some professional swimmers who do not hold a national or world ranking are
considered the best in regard to their technical skills. Typically, an athlete goes through a cycle
of training in which the body is overloaded with work in the beginning and middle segments of
the cycle, and then the workload is decreased in the final stage as the swimmer approaches
competition.
The practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition is called
tapering. Tapering is used to give the swimmer's body some rest without stopping exercise
completely. A final stage is often referred to as "shave and taper": the swimmer shaves off all
exposed hair for the sake of reducing drag and having a sleeker and more hydrodynamic feel in
the water. Additionally, the "shave and taper" method refers to the removal of the top layer of
"dead skin", which exposes the newer and richer skin underneath. This also helps to "shave" off
mere milliseconds on your time.
Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes
compete in 16 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50-meter pool,
called a long course pool.
There are forty officially recognized individual swimming events in the pool; however the
International Olympic Committee only recognizes 32 of them. The international governing body
for competitive swimming is the Fédération Internationale de Natation ("International
Swimming Federation"), better known as FINA.
Open water
In open water swimming, where the events are swum in a body of open water (lake or sea),
there are also 5 km, 10 km and 25 km events for men and women. However, only the 10 km
event is included in the Olympic schedule, again for both men and women. Open-water
competitions are typically separate to other swimming competitions with the exception of the
World Championships and the Olympics.
Swim styles
In competitive swimming, four major styles have been established. These have been relatively
stable over the last 30–40 years with minor improvements. They are:
Butterfly
Butterfly in the water
Your body should be led by the crown of your head with your shoulders and hips horizontal. Try
to keep your body as close as possible to the surface of the water.
Butterfly arm action
The arm action can be split into three propulsive, simultaneous sweeps.
The arms should stretch out in front of the body above the water surface and be led into the
water by the thumb. The hands should enter about shoulder width apart with elbows bent and
slightly higher than the hands.
Your hands then sweep down and out to form a Y shape in front of the body. Turn and sweep
your hands back in towards each other, keeping your elbows high.
Finally, turn your hands up and back and sweep parallel to the side of your body.
Recovery of the arms is aggressive as you stretch them back out in front of you to re-enter.
Keep your arms out of the water but try to avoid lowering your hips – the aim is to keep as
streamlined as close to the water as possible.
Butterfly kicking
The leg action comes from the hips. The heels and soles of your feet should break the surface
from underneath with your knees slightly bent on the upbeat.
Powerful downbeats of the feet then propel the body forward. Try to keep your legs close
together with your ankles relaxed.
Your downbeat kick should occur as the arms enter and sweep out.
Try to kick twice per arm cycle – once to propel your arms out of the water for recovery and
once as the arms enter the water.
Butterfly breathing
The most common butterfly breathing is to the front.
Like in breaststroke, your shoulders should lead your head out of the water. Your front should
rise naturally with the undulation of your body.
Keep your chin in front of your forehead and inhale quickly in through your mouth.
After inhalation, quickly lower your head before exhaling quickly under the water through your
mouth and nose. Your head should re-enter the water before your arms.
Exhalation usually occurs during the final upsweep and inhalation as the arms start to recover.
Some competitive swimmers choose to breathe to the side. This technique involves the same
timing as breathing ahead but the swimmer turns their head to one side for inhalation rather
than lifting their head.
Breathing to the side can help keep the body closer to the water but many swimmers find the
neck twist uncomfortable.
The most common breathing cycle is once every two arm cycles but some competitive
swimmers choose to swim every cycle for longer races or every three cycles for shorter races.
Another common technique is breathing twice every three cycles – just use whichever you find
most comfortable.
Butterfly turning
As you approach the wall for the turn, your hands should touch simultaneously below, at, or
above the surface like in breaststroke.
After touching, immediately thrust one hand backwards away from the wall. Next, rotate your
body on to its side by poking your hips and tucking your knees before planting your feet on the
wall.
As you push off, powerfully straighten your legs to transfer the momentum away from the side
of the pool.
Start a dolphin leg kick underwater as your momentum slows down, keeping your arms in front
of you, ready to start the propulsive phase under the water.
The first arm pull – to a Y shape – should be timed while the body is still slightly submerged but
parallel to the water surface.
Backstroke
In backstroke, the arms contribute most of the forward movement. The arm stroke consists of
two main parts: the power phase (consisting of three separate parts) and the recovery.[3] The
arms alternate so that always one arm is underwater while the other arm is recovering. One
complete arm turn is considered one cycle. From the initial position, one arm sinks slightly
under water and turns the palm outward to start the catch phase (first part of the power
phase). The hand enters downward (pinkie finger first) then pulling out at a 45 degree angle,
catching the water.
During the power phase the hand follows a semi-circular path from the catch to the side of the
hip. The palm is always facing away from the swimming direction, while remaining straight as
an extension of the arm, and the elbow always points downward towards the bottom of the
pool. This is done so that both the arms and the elbow can push the maximum amount of water
back in order to push the body forward. At the height of the shoulders, the upper and lower
arms should have their maximum angle of about 90 degrees. This is called the Mid-Pull of the
power phase.
The Mid-Pull phase consists of pushing the palm of the hand as far down as possible with the
fingers pointing upward. Again, the goal is to push the body forward against the water. At the
very end of the Mid-Pull, the palm flaps down for a last push forward down to a depth of 45 cm,
creating the finish of the power phase. Besides pushing the body forward, this also helps with
the rolling back to the other side as part of the body movement. During the power phase, the
fingers of the hand can be slightly apart, as this will increase the resistance of the hand in the
water due to turbulence.
To prepare for the recovery phase, the hand is rotated so that the palms point towards the legs
and the thumb side points upwards. At the beginning of the recovery phase of the one arm, the
other arm begins its power phase. The recovering arm is moved in a semicircle straight over the
shoulders to the front. During this recovery, the palm rotates so that the small finger enters the
water first, allowing for the least amount of resistance, and the palms point outward. After a
short gliding phase, the cycle repeats with the preparation for the next power phase.
Breaststroke
Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not
rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the
water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds. In most
swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the freestyle (front crawl) first.
However, at the competitive level, swimming breaststroke at speed requires comparable
endurance and strength to other strokes. Some people refer to breaststroke as the "frog"
stroke, as the arms and legs move somewhat like a frog swimming in the water. The stroke
itself is the slowest of any competitive strokes and is thought to be the oldest of all swimming
strokes.[1][2]
Breaststroke is the slowest of the four official styles in competitive swimming. The fastest
breaststrokers can swim about 1.70 meters per second. It is sometimes the hardest to teach to
rising swimmers after butterfly due to the importance of timing and the coordination required
to move the legs properly.[3]
In the breaststroke, the swimmer leans on the chest, arms breaking the surface of the water
slightly, legs always underwater and the head underwater for the second half of the stroke. The
kick is sometimes referred to as a "frog kick" because of the resemblance to the movement of a
frog's hind legs; however, when done correctly it is more of a "whip kick" due to the whip-like
motion that moves starting at the core down through the legs.
The body is often at a steep angle to the forward movement, which slows down the swimmer
more than any other style. Professional breaststrokers use abdominal muscles and hips to add
extra power to the kick, although most do not perfect this technique until the collegiate level.
This much faster form of breaststroke is referred to as "wave-action" breaststroke and fully
incorporates the whip-kick.
A special feature of competitive breaststroke is the underwater pullout. From the streamline
position, one uses the arms to pull all the way down past the hips. As the arms are pulling
down, one downward dolphin kick is allowed (as of the 2005 season), though still optional;
more than one dolphin kick will result in disqualification. This is followed by the recovery of the
arms to the streamline position once more with a breaststroke kick. The pullout is also called
the "pull down". The pullout at the start and after the turns contributes significantly to the
swimming times. Open turns can be easily performed at the walls, but both hands must make
contact with the wall. Therefore, one way to improve swimming times is to focus on the start
and the turns.
In competition, only one of these styles may be used except in the case of the individual
medley, or IM, which consists of all four. In this latter event, swimmers swim equal distances of
butterfly, then backstroke, breaststroke, and finally, freestyle. In Olympic competition, this
event is swum in two distances – 200 and 400 meters. Some short course competitions also
include the 100-yard or 100-meter IM – particularly, for younger or newer swimmers (typically
under 14 years) involved in club swimming, or masters swimming (over 18).
Freestyle
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International
Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to few limited restrictions[1] on
their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions,
with distances beginning with 50 meters (50 yards) and reaching 1500 meters (1650 yards),[2]
also known as the mile. The term 'freestyle stroke' is sometimes used as a synonym for 'front
crawl',[3] as front crawl is the fastest swimming stroke. It is now the most common stroke used
in freestyle competitions.
Freestyle swimming implies the use of legs and arms for competitive swimming, except in the
case of the individual medley or medley relay events. The front crawl is most commonly chosen
by swimmers, as this provides the greatest speed. During a race, the competitor circles the
arms forward in alternation, kicking the feet up and down (flutter kick). Individual freestyle
events can also be swum using one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, or
backstroke). For the freestyle part of medley swimming competitions, however, one cannot use
breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Front crawl is based on the Trudgen that was improved
by Richmond Cavill from Sydney, Australia. Cavill developed the stroke by observing a young
boy from the Solomon Islands, Alick Wickham. Cavill and his brothers spread the Australian
crawl to England, New Zealand and America, creating the freestyle used worldwide today.
During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle. Some of the
few rules state that swimmers must touch the end of the pool during each length and cannot
push off the bottom, hang on the wall, or pull on the lane lines during the course of the race. As
with all competitive events, false starts can lead to disqualification of the swimmer.[4]
Dolphin kick
Since the 1990s, the most drastic change in swimming has been the addition of the underwater
dolphin kick. This is used to maximize the speed at the start and after the turns in all styles. The
first successful use of it was by David Berkoff. At the 1988 Olympics, he swam most of the 100
m backstroke race underwater and broke the world record in the distance during the
preliminaries. Another swimmer to use the technique was Denis Pankratov at the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, where he completed almost half of the 100 m butterfly underwater to win
the gold medal. In the past decade, American competitive swimmers have shown the most use
of the underwater dolphin kick to gain advantage, most notably Olympic and World medal
winners Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte; however currently swimmers are not allowed to go
any further than fifteen metres underwater due to rule changes by FINA. In addition, FINA
announced in 2014 that a single dolphin kick can be added to the breaststroke pullout prior to
the first breaststroke kick.
While the dolphin kick is mostly seen in middle-distance freestyle events and in all distances of
backstroke and butterfly, it is not usually used to the same effect in freestyle sprinting. That
changed with the addition of the so-called "technical" suits around the European Short Course
Championships in Rijeka, Croatia in December 2008. There, Amaury Leveaux set new world
records of 44.94 seconds in the 100 m freestyle, 20.48 seconds in the 50 m freestyle and 22.18
in the 50 m butterfly. Unlike the rest of the competitors in these events, he spent at least half of
each race submerged using the dolphin kick.
World Championship pools must be 50 metres (160 ft) (long course) long and 25 metres (82 ft)
wide, with ten lanes labelled zero to nine (or one to ten in some pools; zero and nine (or one
and ten) are usually left empty in semi-finals and finals); the lanes must be at least 2.5 metres
(8.2 ft) wide. They will be equipped with starting blocks at both ends of the pool and most will
have Automatic Officiating Equipment, including touch pads to record times and sensors to
ensure the legality of relay takeovers. The pool must have a minimum depth of two metres.
Other pools which host events under FINA regulations are required to meet some but not all of
these requirements. Many of these pools have eight, or even six, instead of ten lanes and some
will be 25 metres (82 ft) long, making them Short course. World records that are set in short
course pools are kept separate from those set in long course pools because it may be an
advantage or disadvantage to swimmers to have more or less turns in a race.
Seasons
Competitive swimming, from the club through to international level, tends to have an autumn
and winter season competing in short course (25 metres or yards) pools and a spring and
summer season competing in long course (50 metre) pools and in open water.
In international competition and in club swimming in Europe, the short course (25m) season
lasts from September to December, and the long course (50m) season from January to August
with open water in the summer months. These regulations are slowly being brought to
competition in North America.
As of right now, in club, school, and college swimming in the United States and Canada, the
short course (25 yards) season is much longer, from September to March. The long-course
season takes place in 50-meter pools and lasts from April to the end of August with open water
in the summer months.
In club swimming in Australasia, the short course (25m) season lasts from April to September,
and the long course (50m) season from October to March with open water in the summer
months.
Outside the United States, meters is the standard in both short and long course swimming, with
the same distances swum in all events. In the American short course season, the 500 yard, 1000
yard, and 1650-yard freestyle events are swum as a yard is much shorter than a meter (100
yards equals 91.44 meters), while during the American long course season the 400 meter, 800
meter, and 1500-meter freestyle events are swum instead.
Beginning each swimming season racing in short course allows for shorter distance races for
novice swimmers. For example, in the short course season if a swimmer wanted to compete in
a stroke they had just learned, a 25-yard/meter race is available to them, opposed to the long
course season when they would need to be able to swim at least 50 meters of that new stroke
in order to compete.
Officials
There are several types of officials, which are needed to manage the competition.
Referee: The referee has full control and authority over all officials. The referee will enforce all
rules and decisions of FINA and shall have the final answer to all questions relating to the actual
conduct of anything regarding the meet, as well as the final settlement of which is not
otherwise covered by the rules. The referee takes overall responsibility for running the meet
and makes the final decisions as to who wins each race. Referees call swimmers to the blocks
with short blasts of his or her whistle. This is the signal for the swimmers to stand next to their
blocks. Then the referee will blow a long whistle that will tell the swimmers to step on the
block. For backstroke events, the long whistle is the signal for the swimmers to jump into the
water. The referee will then blow another long whistle, signalling the swimmers to grab the
gutter or the provided block handle. Finally the referee will hand over the rest to the starter by
directing his or her hand to the starter.
Starter: The starter has full control of the swimmers from the time the referee turns the
swimmers over to him/her until the race commences. A starter begins the race by saying, "Take
your mark." At this point, the swimmers will get into stationary positions in which they would
like to start their race. After all swimmers have assumed their stationary position, the starter
will push a button on the starting system, signaling the start of a race with a loud noise (usually
a beep or a horn) and flash from a strobe light. A starter sends the swimmers off the blocks and
may call a false start if a swimmer leaves the block before the starter sends them. A starter may
also choose to recall the race after the start for any reason or request the swimmers to "stand",
"relax" or "step down" if he or she believes that (a) particular swimmer(s) has gotten an unfair
advantage at the start.
Clerk of course: The clerk of course (also called the "bullpen") assembles swimmers prior to
each event, and is responsible for organizing ("seeding") swimmers into heats based on their
times. Heats are generally seeded from slowest to fastest, where swimmers with no previous
time for an event are assumed to be the slowest. The clerk of the course is also responsible for
recording and reporting swimmers who have chosen to "scratch" (not swim) their events after
they have signed up or qualified to a semifinal or final. The clerk is also responsible for
enforcing rules of the swim meet if a swimmer chooses to not show up ("No show" - NS) his or
her events.
Timekeepers: Each timekeeper takes the time of the swimmers in the lane assigned to him/her.
Unless a video backup system is used, it may be necessary to use the full complement of
timekeepers even when automatic officiating equipment is used. A chief timekeeper assigns the
seating positions for all timekeepers and the lanes for which they are responsible. In most
competitions there will be one or more
