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The history of swimming is only 200 years old. Man has always wanted to imitate fish in water. The city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA is a pioneer in the modern era of this sport, when on July 23, 1827 he founded the first school of this aquatic discipline. This academy arises jointly with the National Swimming Society, founded in London in 1837, the first governing organization of this sport in the world. Two years later, in 1869, the Metropolitan Swimming Clubs Association was created, which later became the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA). With these organizations, swimming is encouraged and developed as a water sport, that is, the competition between participants to be the fastest over a set distance, exclusively through their own propulsion.
This makes it an individualized sport, since although they train as a team they face each other. The different distances to be covered are established according to the different levels of competence and would have to be carried out in special pools, so that they can have national or international validity. The origin of swimming is ancestral and there is proof of it through the study of the oldest civilizations. The knowledge of the therapeutic benefits of water was reflected in some Egyptian hieroglyphs dating from 2500 BC. There are indications that it was the Japanese who first held annual competitive swimming events, in the time of Emperor Sugiu in 38 BC.The origin of swimming is already found in Prehistory. It is proven by some paintings discovered from the Stone Age 7,500 years ago, which depict people swimming. In the same way, the first written reference dates from the year 2000 B.C. In ancient Egypt, the ‘art of swimming’ was very present among the population. You should know that this is a country with a sea coast and is divided in two by the great river Nile. In addition, it had an infinite network of channels.
Therefore not knowing how to swim was a risk to life. In ancient Japan, under the reign of Emperor Sugiu, as early as 38 BC. every year certain sports competitions were held, among which was to travel certain distances swimming. Centuries later, Emperor Go-Yozei imposed swimming in Japanese schools in the 17th century. Among the ancient Greeks, swimming was so widespread that even to say that a person was illiterate, it was said that he ‘cannot read or swim.’ The Greek philosopher Plato in 355 BC. C., says in one of his writings: ‘Should an official position fall on a person who is cultured, not like others who cannot swim or read?’ Although in ancient Greece great importance was attached to swimming, curiously this practice was never included in the program of the Olympic Games of those times. Therefore, to find the first origins of swimming, both sporting and competitive of relevance, we have to jump to the beginning of the 19th century, in Great Britain as we will see later. In fact, diving and swimming in the water was something associated with remedies for the many epidemic diseases.
We have seen that swimming was a highly appreciated sport in the civilizations of Greece and Rome, it was mainly used as training for soldiers or warriors, also that in Japan competitions were already held in the 1st century BC, but when the Middle Ages arrived in Europe his practice fell into oblivion. The inventor of swimming is considered to be the British John Trudgen (1852-1902), who promoted the style that bears his name, a kind of side swim that he had learned from the Indians of the Amazon. With this technique, a step forward in the evolution of styles was taken, showing that it was more effective than the old breaststroke. Swimming, as we know it today, is something very different from simply knowing how to swim. Swimming has very specific rules, styles and ways of swimming.Swimming was born as a sport at the beginning of the 19th century, in Great Britain. The National Swimming Society of London, was founded in 1837. Many swimming competitions were organized. In the year 1869, we found the first swimming world champion, Tom Morris, won a one-mile race on the River Thames. It was very popular and soon this sport spread throughout the world. In the last third of the 19th century, competitive swimming in several European countries already had its own federation. Also, it is successfully established in New Zealand and Australia.In the year 1870, swimming clubs began to be created in the United States, organizing frequent competitions. A few years later, on July 19, 1908, FINA was founded: International Swimming Federation.
At the 1900 Paris Olympics, back tests were already introduced. Later, in 1908 the trudgen style was improved by the Australian Richard Cavill who incorporated what is called continuous kick. This meant that it was possible to swim even faster.But the most significant advance in the sport of swimming came from the Stockholm Games in 1912. It was there that a Hawaiian prince, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, introduced a revolutionary style, apparently originating from the Polynesians of the seas of the South, which is what today is the crawl style. Duke Kahanamoku, obtained the gold medal in the 100 meters freestyle, broke the world record and began a period of absolute dominance, getting to participate in four Olympic Games. Starting in the 1920s, the crawl (which means something like ‘drag’) became the most effective style of swimming. But we are missing one more to complete the four styles of the Olympic program: the butterfly. It was from the 30s when this style originated, based on the breaststroke, only that the arms were collected out of the water.
This style is a breaststroke evolution and is the one that requires the highest energy expenditure. Some years later, the second differentiating part of the style was introduced, the undulating movement of the leg beat, with which the “butterfly” became “dolphin”, although the first name has traditionally been maintained. The first swim across the English Channel was made by Captain Matthew Webb. When we go back to the 19th century, because that is where we find the aquatic event that most contributed to the popularization of swimming: the crossing to the English Channel. On August 24, 1875, Captain Webb attempted the feat, departing from Dover, with the aim of reaching Calais. Perhaps he was not the first in history to try it, but he was the one who gained the greatest fame when in a little less than 22 hours he achieved his purpose. It is unthinkable to have Olympic Games without swimming, which, along with athletics and gymnastics, represents more than half of the history of the Olympics. Indeed, swimming was already present in the first modern Games, those of Athens in 1896, although that competition has almost nothing to do with the current ones. Among the few participants, the Hungarian Alfred Hajos, the first Olympic medalist in swimming, stands out. In the Games of Paris 1900, the tests were disputed in the river Seine, and in San Luis 1904, in an artificial lake.
Finally, in London 1908, swimmers could count on a swimming pool. Over the years, the Olympic program has expanded considerably. In Stockholm 1912, women participated for the first time in swimming, although they only competed in two swimming events plus lever jumps. And in 1920, women’ springboard jumps were included. The two types of jumps in the men’s category had already been Olympic since 1908. The last aquatic discipline to arrive at the Games, synchronized swimming, debuted in Los Angeles 1984. Synchronized swimming is one of the most plastic sports specialties. Throughout so many years of Olympic swimming, numerous figures have emerged who have starred in unforgettable deeds. You can see a good sample of them at the end of this article. But as significant data, we will point out here that Mark Spitz has 9 gold medals, Dawn Fraser is the only woman who has won the same test three times (100 meters freestyle in 1956, 1960 and 1964), in Munich 72 were beaten 30 world records and in Seoul 88 the United States (men) and the former GDR (women) dominated much of the tests.
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