What is Swimming?

Swimming is a very popular physical activity, is a method of movement in the water.

Swimming is also a sport.

Swimming is mostly an individual racing sport, that requires the use of one's entire
body to move through water.

It is one of the most popular Olympic sports.

Benefits of the sport.

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.

As well as being fun, swimming is a great way to keep fit, stay healthy and make
friends.

Swimming is a healthy activity that you can continue for a lifetime. It is a low-impact
activity that has many physical and mental health benefits.

Health benefits of swimming

Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the
resistance of the water.

Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:

 keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
 builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
 helps you maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
 tones muscles and builds strength
 provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used
during swimming.

Other benefits of swimming

Swimming has many other benefits including:

 being a relaxing and peaceful form of exercise

 alleviating stress
 improving coordination, balance and posture
 improving flexibility

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  providing good low-impact therapy for some injuries and conditions
 providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day
 being available in many places – you can swim in swimming pools, beaches,
lakes, dams and rivers. Make sure that the environment you choose to swim in
is safe.

Where takes place? Olympic swimming pool

The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake).

The Olympic Swimming pool:

- It has dimensions of 50 m long and 25 m wide

- Minimum depth of 2 meters.

- It has 10 tracks or lanes, each with a width of minimum 2.5 m.

The aquatic sport of swimming involves competition amongst participants to be the

fastest over a given distance under self propulsion.

The distances swum in competition swimming can vary from 50 metres in a pool to
much further distances in open water.

The different events include 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 yards/meters in the different
swimming styles.

Swimming styles

There are 4 basic swimming styles:

 Butterfly
 Backstroke
 Breaststroke
 Freestyle

Butterfly (fly)-is considered to be the most difficult of the four main styles. This style is
very effective, but it requires a lot of strength and coordination.

Backstrocke (back crawl or the upside-down freestyle)- is the only style of swimming
in which we swim on the back. Backstroke swimming is very healthy for the backbone.

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The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and
the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style.

CrawlCrawl isn't a swimming style. In the competition swimmers usually swim front
crawl in freestyle competitions.

A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke,
ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle

History of Swimming

Competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800 BCE, mostly using

the breaststroke.

In 1873 Steve Bowyer 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, Federation internationale de natation was

formed.

The butterfly stroke was developed in the 1930s and was at first a breaststroke variant,
until it was accepted as a separate style in.

In 1964, Lillian Bonnell won the award for being the first woman to participate in a
swimming competition and because of her now millions of women participate every
year.

Rules in Swimming

The technical rules of swimming are designed to provide fair and equitable conditions
of competition and to promote uniformity in the sport.

Each swimming stroke has specific rules designed to ensure that no swimmer gets an
unfair competitive advantage over another swimmer.

Trained officials observe the swimmers during each event to ensure compliance with
these technical rules.

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If a swimmer commits an infraction of the rules that is observed by an offical, a
disqualification (DQ) will result.

This means that the swimmer will not receive an official time and will not be eligible for
an award in that event.

A disqualification may result from actions such as not getting to the starting blocks on
time, false starting, performing strokes in an illegal manner, or unsportsmanlike
conduct.

Rules in Strokes

DQs are also a result of technical rules violations. They include but are not limited to:

Freestyle: Walking on the bottom, pulling on the lane rope, not touching the wall on a
turn, or not completing the distance.

Backstroke: Pulling or kicking into the wall once a swimmer has turned passed the
vertical onto the breast. Turning onto the breast before touching the wall with the
hand at the finish of the race.

Breaststroke: An illegal kick such as flutter (freestyle), dolphin (butterfly), or scissors

(side stroke); not on the breast; alternating movements of the arms; taking two arm
strokes or two leg kicks while the head is under water; touching with only one hand at
the turns or finish.

Butterfly: Alternating movements of the arms or legs; pushing the arms forward
under instead of over the water surface (underwater recovery); a breaststroke style of
kick; touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.

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 World Aquatics and shall have the
final answer to all questions relating to the actual conduct of anything regarding the
meet.

Starter: The starter has full control of the swimmers from the time the referee turns
the swimmers over to them until the race commences. A starter begins the race by
saying, "Take your mark." At this point, the swimmers will get into stationary positions,

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sometimes known as "point zero", 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 they believe that (a) particular
swimmer(s) has obtained 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, or "Did Not Swim" - DNS) to their
events.
Timekeepers: Each timekeeper takes the time of the swimmers in the lane assigned to
them. 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
timekeepers per lane. In international competitions where full automatic timing and
video placing equipment is in use timekeepers may not be required.
Inspectors of turns: One inspector of turns is assigned to one or more lanes at each
end of the pool. Each inspector of turns ensures that swimmers comply with the
relevant rules for turning, as well as the relevant rules for start and finish of the race.
Inspectors of turns shall report any violation on disqualification reports detailing the
event, lane number, and the infringement delivered to the chief inspector of turns who
will immediately convey the report to the referee.
Judges of Stroke: Judges of stroke are located on each side of the pool. They follow
the swimmers during their swim back and forth across the pool. They ensure that the
rules related to the style of swimming designated for the event are being observed,
and observe the turns and the finishes to assist the inspectors of turns.
Finish judges: 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.)

Olympic games

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The best swimmer of the world: Michael Phelps

The most popular swimmers

 Mark Spitz is the biggest swimmer in the history of swimming with 11 Olympic
medals.

 Matthew Nicholas Biondi is another great swimmer in the swimming history

winning 11 Olympic medals including 8 golden medals.

 Johnny Weissmuller is another talented swimmer in the swimming history.

 Ian James Thorpe is one of the most popular swimmers with 9 medals including
5 golden.

 Michael Fred Phelps holds 4 world records now. His best events are Freestyle
and Individual medley.

 Kristin Otto is the famous swimmer , who won 6 golden medal sat her first
participation in the 1988 Olympic games.

 Jennifer Elisabeth Thompson is a great swimmer in world swimming. She has

won 12 medals participating in 4 Olympic games.

Swimwear and Equipment:

 Swimsuit

Competitive swimwear seeks to improve upon bare skin for a speed

advantage and coverage.

 Swim cap

A swim cap (a.k.a. cap) keeps the swimmer's hair out of the way to reduce
drag. Caps may be made of latex, silicone, spandex or lycra.

 Goggles

Keep water and chlorine out of swimmers' eyes. Goggles may be tinted to
counteract glare at outdoor pools. Prescription goggles may be used by
swimmers who wear corrective lenses.

 Swim Fins

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 Rubber fins are used to help kick faster and build strength and technique,
but are illegal in a race. They also improve technique by keeping the feet in
the proper position while kicking.

 Drag suit

Swimmers use drag suits in training to increase resistance. This allows a

swimmer to be challenged even more when practicing and let the swimmer
feel less resistance when racing. Drag suits are not used in competitive
races.

 Hand paddles

Swimmers use these plastic devices to build arm and shoulder strength
while refining hand-pulling technique. Hand paddles attach to the hand
with rubber tubing or elastic material. They come in many different shapes
and sizes, depending on swimmer preference and hand size.

 Kickboard

A kickboard is a foam board that swimmers use to support the weight of

the upper body while they focus on kicking. Kicking is the movement of the
legs only which helps to increase leg muscle for future strength.

 Pull buoy

Often used at the same time as hand paddles, pull buoys support
swimmers' legs (and prevent them from kicking) while they focus on pulling.
Pull buoys are made of foam so they float in the water. Swimmers hold
them in between the thighs. They can also be used as a kickboard to make
kicking a little harder.

 Ankle bands

Improving balance will minimize the need for this kick to provide an
upward, instead of a forward vector, and in some cases completely corrects
the kick. Using an ankle band will have the immediate effect of turning off
your kick, which then forces you to make efforts to correct your balance. If
you are successful in discovering these, then the ankle band has done part
of its job.

 Snorkel

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 A snorkel is a plastic device that helps swimmers breathe while swimming.
This piece of equipment helps the swimmer practice keeping their head in
one position, along with training them for the proper breathing technique
of breathing in through the mouth and out the nose. This technique is the
opposite of a common runner's breathing pattern, which is in the nose and
out the mouth.

Brands such as Arena, Speedo, TYR, and Adidas are popular regular swimwear
brands.

"Doping is the application or use by an athlete of any substance foreign to the body or
any natural substance used in unusual quantities or by an abnormal way for the body
to increase efficiency in the race, by artificial means.”