Pre-Olympic Era to 1896

In 1804, W.H. Mallison invested the lifebelt, a devise which has

known at that time as the “Seaman’s Friend”.
In 1837, the first German Swimming Club was founded.
In 1844, Swimming competition was conducted in London. This
competition was participated in by the British and some Native
Americans.
In 1862, the first indoor swimming pool was built in England. An
amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain was organized in 1880
with more than three hundred members. The main swimming styles used
were the breaststroke and the recently developed sidestroke.
Meanwhile, A record breaking event was recorded when J.H Thayers of
England swam 100 yards (91 meters) with a time of 1:02:50 using
sidestroke.
Sometimes between 1870 and 1890, John Arthur Trudgen
reintroduced the front crawl to some Englishmen, having learned the
stroke from Native Americans during a trip to South America.
In 1901, F.V.C Lane demonstrated the speed of this new stroke. He
got a time of 1:00.00 in a 100 hard (91 meters) distance which recorded
an improvement of about ten seconds compared to the breast stroke
record.
In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb swam the English channel (between
England and France) and was known to be the first man to do this stint.
Other historic events in swimming during the Pre-Olympic Era up to
1896 are shown below.
 The first European Amature Swimming Competition was done in
Vienna in 1882.
 King Ludwig II of Bavaria built a swimming pool in the castle of
Liderh of in 1879.
 Synchronized swimming started in the late 19th century.
 The first synchronized swimming competition was done in 1891 in

Berlin Limiting it to a Men’s Event only.