What is the Sport of Swimming?
Competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly involving the breaststroke. Swimming was part of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Richard Cavill introduced the front crawl to the Western world in the first years of the twentieth century. In 1908, the world swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), was formed. The butterfly stroke was developed in the 1930s and was accepted as a separate style in 1952.
Nowadays there are four separate strokes; freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. To learn more about the different styles of competitive swimming strokes, please click here.
The official size of an Olympic swimming pool is 50 meters (long course), but competitions are also held in 25-meter pools (short course). In the United States, many pools are either 25 or 50 yards. There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events, however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female, because the 100 meter Individual Medley cannot be raced in a 50 meter pool.
Nowadays there are four separate strokes; freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. To learn more about the different styles of competitive swimming strokes, please click here.
The official size of an Olympic swimming pool is 50 meters (long course), but competitions are also held in 25-meter pools (short course). In the United States, many pools are either 25 or 50 yards. There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events, however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female, because the 100 meter Individual Medley cannot be raced in a 50 meter pool.
