The aquatic sport of
swimming involves competition
among participants to be the fastest over a given distance under
self propulsion. Today people believe it is the best sport in the
world. The different events include 25(8&U), 50, 100, 200,
breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly, the 25(8&U), 50, 100,
200, 400, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, and 1650 free and the 100, 200, and
400 individual medley (IM, consisting of all strokes). The order of
the individual medley is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke,
freestyle. In the 100 IM you swim a 25 (one length) of each stroke,
200- 50 (1 length in long course and 2 lengths in short course)
400- 100 (2 lengths in long course and 4 lengths in short course)
of each stroke in the IM.Swimming has been part of the modern
Olympic Games since inception in 1896.
Along with the other aquatic disciplines of
diving,
synchronised
swimming and
water polo, the sport is
governed by the
Fédération Internationale de
Natation .
History
100pix
Competitive swimming in
Europe started around
1800, mostly using
breaststroke. In
1873 John Arthur Trudgen introduced the
trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after
copying the
front crawl used by
Native Americans. Due to
a British disregard for splashing, Trudgen employed a
scissor kick instead of the
front crawl's
flutter
kick.
Swimming was part of the first modern
Olympic games in 1896 in
Athens
. In 1902 Richard Cavill introduced the
front crawl to the Western world. In
1908, the world swimming association,
Fédération Internationale de
Natation , was formed.
Butterfly was developed in the 1930s and
was at first a variant of
breaststroke,
until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952.
Strokes
Butterfly Butterfly (a.k.a. fly) is a stroke in which the
swimmer brings both hands over their head close to the water,
breathing forward, "Dolphin kicking" (undulating) with both feet
together in sequence, two kicks per arm stroke. All walls must be
touched with two hands at the same time and the swimmer will be
disqualified if his/her arms do not clear the water at the same
time.
Backstroke Backstroke (a.k.a. back) is a stroke which is
similar to the front crawl, except on your back. Kicking by
alternating both feet, pulling each arm one at a time, and looking
straight up. At walls, flip turns are permitted(the swimmer is to
turn on to his/her front before performing the turn), and a
two-hand touch is not necessary.
Breaststroke Breaststroke (a.k.a. breast) is a stroke
where the swimmer kicks legs out (much like a frog, but more whip
like), scoops the water in towards the chest with his or her hands
and then thrusts the hands out in front just before the kick is
repeated. One underwater "pull-out" is permitted after every wall,
with a streamline glide, one butterfly kick, and one kick to the
surface. Each wall requires a two-hand (simultaneous)
touch.
Freestyle Freestyle (a.k.a. free) is a not a defined
stroke as the others are. However, as swimmers are free to choose
any stroke they wish, most select the Front Crawl, as it is both
the fastest and most efficient. The front crawl is a stroke where
the swimmer breathes to the side, kicks by alternating both legs,
and pulls with each arm at different times. Flip turns are legal.
Many meets also include free relays, in which four team members
each swim an equal distance of freestyle; when one member touches
the wall, the next can dive off the block.
IM IM stands for individual medley, and includes, in this
order: fly, back, breast, free. Open turns are required in the
switch from one stroke to another, but flip turns can be made
during back and free. Each stroke must be completed before moving
on to the next stroke. 25:100 is the ratio for the amount swam for
each stroke. 25 yards stroke to each 100 total. Many meets also
include medley relays, in which four team members each swim one
stroke, in the order of back, breast, fly, free. Other IM events
are a 200, and 400 which is the same except that in a 200 it is 1
length (in long course) or 2 lengths (in short course) of each
stroke and 400 is 2 lengths (in long course) or 4 lengths (in short
course) of each stroke. In the 200 and 400 IM flip turns are
allowed off the wall in backstroke to backstroke and freestyle to
freestyle.
Open-turn An open-turn is a touch and go turn. Fly and
breast must touch with two hands, but can push off with
one.
Flipturn In a flipturn, the swimmer swims to the wall,
tucks, flips, and pushes off. This is only legal in back and free.
A backwards flip (suicide turn) is also allowed between Backstroke
and Breaststroke in the Individual Medley.In this turn, the swimmer
must touch the wall on their back and come out on their
front.
Competition
The goal of competitive swimming is to be have the fastest time to
complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in
the nineteenth century, and comprises 36 individual events – 18
male events and 18 female events, however the IOC only recognizes
34 events – 17 male and 17 female events. Swimming is an event at
the
Summer Olympic Games, where
male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events
each. Olympic events are held in a
50 meter pool(long course). Competitive swimming's
international governing body is
FINA
(Fédération Internationale de Natation), the
International
Swimming Federation..
Competition pools
The majority of competitions are held either in a
long course pool such as that at the olympic
games(50 m) or
short course pool
as was used in the manchester world championships (25 m or
25 yd)They have blocks from which the competitior can dive in
and at major competitions will have time pads to electronically
record the times as soon as touched with enough pressure to stop
the clock.(this comes in handy on races such as the phelps 100 fly
at bejing)
Officials
There are several types of officials:
- 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;
- Finish judges determine the order of finish and make sure the
swimmers finish in accordance with the rules (two hands
simultaneously for breaststroke and butterfly, on the back for
backstroke, etc.)
- Turn judges check that the swimmers' turns are within
rules;
- Stroke judges check the swimmers' strokes;
- Timekeepers time the swimmers' swims;
- The referee takes overall responsibility for running the race
and makes the final decisions as to who wins the competition.
If an
official catches a swimmer breaking a
rule concerning the stroke he or she is swimming, that swimmer is
said to be disqualified (commonly referred to as a "DQ") and the
swim is not considered valid.
Meet Setup
A meet consists of a number of events classified by age, gender,
distance, and stroke. For example, Event 1: Girls 8&U 25 fly.
Each event has a certain amount of heats. A heat is a group of
people who swim at the same time, on per lane, yet compete against
all entries in that event. Most meets do one stroke at one time.
All fly, back, breast, free, IM, and relay. Example: Fly:25, 50,
100, 200. Back: 25, 50, 100, 200. Breast: 25, 50, 100, 200. Free:
25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 1650. IM: 100, 200, 400.
Relays: 100, 200, 400, 800. A heat sheet tells a swimmer what he or
she will swim, what heat, and what lane. A psych sheet tells the
entry position of the swimmer before the start of the meet. Larger
meets, which are not national or international competitions,
typically cover a three day period; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Friday: distance events(400 free and up and the 400 IM). Saturday:
Half of the events and, most likely, free relays. Sunday: the
remainder of the events and the other relays. In typical meets
swimmers are placed after swimming once in their heat, timed
finals. In championship meets (international, national, state,
regionals, district, and collegiate) and some other meets, the
swimmers compete in preliminaries, sometimes semi-finals, and are
placed after finals. Sometimes swimmers can enter time trials at a
meet, to obtain new official time, but time trials results are not
included in the official placing of the particular event at the
meet.
Swimwear
"Team colors" would be referred to as the "team suit and
cap"
Suit The suit covers the skin for modesty Competitive
swimwear seeks to improve upon bare human skin for a speed
advantage. For extra speed a swimmer wears a body suit, which has
rubber or plastic bumps that break up the water close to the body
and provides a small amount of thrust—just barely enough to help a
swimmer swim faster.
Swim Cap A swim cap(a.k.a. cap)keeps the swimmers hair out
of the way to reduce drag. During practice, many female swimmers
wear caps with different sayings, patterns or both.
Latex
Caps is made of latex which sticks to anything. If you are
having trouble putting on this type of cap or removing it, try
putting water on the cap, place your hands on you forehead with
your cap between your fingers and forehead, then have someone pull
the back of the cap over your head. This is easy to tell by both
how it looks, and how it feels.
Silicone Caps This cap is
very stretchy, yet is snug. If you are having trouble putting this
cap on, place both hands in the cap, stretch the cap out, place
your head down in the front of the cap, and pull it back, over your
head, and pull your hands out. Tuck any loose hair back in.
Lycra Cap This is a new type of cap that does not pull on
your hair like latex caps. However, it is not as snug as
silicone.
Goggles Goggles keep water and chlorine out of swimmers
eyes. New goggles can help those that need glasses. If you have
contacts, you should find ones that are a more dependable to
prevent protein build-up in your eyes (including starts).
Brands include: Arena, Speedo, TYR, Nike, Dolfin(There
are
other brands of suits)
Regular practice and competition-swimwear
Men
Men's most used practice swimwear include speedos (briefs) and
jammers. As of New Year's day 2010, men are only allowed to wear
suits from waist to above the knees. This law was enacted after the
controversy in the Beijing Olympics and Rome World
Championships.
Women
Women wear one piece suits with different backs for competition,
though there are two-piece suits that can be worn to compete as
well. Backs vary mainly in strap thickness and geometric design
Most common styles include: racerback, axel back, corset,
diamondback, and butterfly-back. There are also different style
lengths: three quarter length (reaches the knees), full body (down
to ankles), regular length (shoulders to hips), and bikini style (2
piece). Also as of New Year's 2010, in competition, women are only
allowed to wear suits that do not go past the knees or
shoulders.
Drag suits
Drag suits are used for increasing the resistance against the
swimmer in order to help adjust the swimmer to drag. This way when
swimmers switch back normal practice suits they swim faster as a
result of feeling less resistance. (This is not normally worn
during competition)
Drag shorts
Drag shorts like drag suits are worn in training and are also used
to increase drag so that when taken off in racing it feels easier
and you have less resistance. Other forms of drag wear include
nylons, and t-shirts; the point is to increase friction in the
water to build strength during training, and increase speed once
drag items are removed for competition. It is also very common for
swimmers to shave areas of exposed skin, to reduce friction in the
water.(Drag wear is not normally worn during competition)
Open water swimming
Open water swimming is swimming outside of a regular pool, usually
in a lake, or sometimes ocean.
Changes to the sport
Swimming times have dropped over the years due to better training
techniques and to new developments.
The first four Olympics competitions were not held in pools, but in
open water (1896- The Mediterranean, 1900- The Seine River, 1904-
an artificial lake, 1906- The Mediterranean). The
1904 Olympics' freestyle race was the only one
ever measured at 100 yards, instead of the usual 100 meters.
A 100
meter pool was built for the 1908 Olympics
and sat in the center of the main stadium's track
and field oval. The
1912
Olympics, held in the Stockholm harbor, marked the beginning of
electronic timing.
Male swimmers wore full body suits until the 1940s, which caused
more drag in the water than their modern swimwear counterparts did.
Competition suits now include engineered fabric and designs to
reduce swimmers' drag in the water and prevent athlete fatigue. In
addition, over the years, pool designs have lessened the drag. Some
design considerations allow for the reduction of swimming
resistance, making the pool faster. Namely,
proper pool depth, elimination of currents, increased lane width,
energy absorbing racing lane lines and gutters, and the use of
other innovative hydraulic, acoustic and illumination
designs.
The
1924 Summer Olympics were
the first to use the standard 50 meter pool with marked lanes. In
the freestyle, swimmers originally dived from the pool walls, but
diving blocks were incorporated at the
1936 Summer Olympics. The
flip turn was developed by the 1950s and
goggles were first used in the
1976 Olympics.
There were also changes in the late 20th century in terms of
technique. Breaststrokers are now allowed to dip their head
completely under water, which allowed for a longer stroke and
faster time. However, the breaststrokers
must
bring their heads up at the completion of each cycle. In addition,
a split stroke in the breaststroke start and turns has been added
to help speed up the stroke. There have been some other changes
added recently as well. Now off the flip turns and starts
breaststrokers are allowed 1 butterfly kick to help increase their
speed. Backstrokers are now allowed to turn on their stomachs
before the wall in order to perform a "flip-turn". Previously, they
had to reach and flip backwards this turn is now only used in
backstroke to breaststroke in an IM.
Records in swimming
The foundation of FINA in 1908 signalled the commencement of
recording the first official
world records in swimming.
At that time records could be established in any swimming pool of
length not less than 25 yards, and records were also accepted for
intermediate distance split times from longer distance events. The
Danish swimmer
Ranghild Hveger
established forty-two records between 1936 and 1942 due to these
rules.
Records in events such as 300 yd, 300 m, 1000 yd and
1000 m freestyle, 400 m backstroke, 400 m and
500 m breaststroke were no longer ratified from 1948. A
further removal of the 500 yd and 500 m freestyle,
150 m backstroke and 3×100 m medley relay from the record
listings occurred in 1952.
In 1952 the national federations of the United States and Japan
proposed at the FINA Congress the separation of records achieved in
long course and short course pools, however it was four more years
for action to come into effect with Congress deciding to retain
only records held in 50 m pools as the official world record
listings.
By 1969 there were thirty-one events in which FINA recognised
official world records – 16 for men, 15 for women – closely
resembling the event schedule that was in use at the
Olympic Games.
The increase in accuracy and reliability of electronic timing
equipment led to the introduction of hundredths of a second to the
time records from 21 August 1972.
Records in short course (25 m) pools began to be officially
approved as "short course world records" from 3 March 1991. Prior
to this "record" times were not officially recognised, but were
regarded a "world best time" (WBT). From 31 October 1994 records in
50 m backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly records were added
to the official record listings.
FINA currently recognises world records in the following events for
both men and women.
- Freestyle: 50 m,
100 m,
200 m,
400 m,
800 m,
1500 m
- Backstroke: 50 m,
100 m,
200 m
- Breaststroke: 50 m,
100 m,
200 m
- Butterfly: 50 m,
100 m,
200 m
- Individual medley: 100 m (short
course only), 200 m,
400 m
- Relays: 4×100 m
freestyle, 4×200 m
freestyle, 4×100 m
medley
Sports nutrition
In swimming it is recommended that you eat healthy. Many
competitive swimmers eat carbs and protein before their race.
swimming is an example of an endurance sport that requires a large
amount of
carbohydrates in order to
maintain stamina throughout a swimming event. Carbohydrates are
recommended for highly demanding sports due to the complete sources
of energy that they provide. Carbohydrates promote muscle stamina
and strength because the breakdown product of carbohydrate-glucose
is a primary source of energy for muscles during exercise. Commonly
the nutrient and energy needs of swimmers can be compromised by
their intense schedules. Time should be allowed for a light meal
before swimming, and time for a well-balanced generous meal should
be allotted after the workout. Additionally, healthy snacking can
at times, be more efficient in fueling the body than a main meal.
Healthy snacking ideas include: low fat yogurt, fresh or dried
fruit, crackers, oatmeal and raisins, granola, and cereal. Like all
aerobic sports, swimmers need to be sure they remain hydrated and
drink an adequate amount of water during training and
competitions.
See also
References
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