Swimming

 History of Swimming

Swimming as a sport dates back to the prehistoric period, with its earliest physical evidence being found in Stone Age drawings and paintings found near WadiSura at the “cave of Swimmers”. Clay seals from Egypt showed early swimmers swimming in a front crawl manner (Nauright & Parrish, 2012). This was followed by the incoming of early civilization between 4000 B.C. and 9000 B.C., which involved the Persians, Greeks, and Egyptians extolling cleanliness virtues. Consequently, Plato declared that inability to swimming showed lack of proper education. The establishment of competitive swimming goes back to the militaristic culture when Greeks started building swimming pools; however, swimming was not identified as a competitive sport during the ancient Olympic Games, but was only encouraged as a martial arts competition (Montgomery & Chambers, 2009). In 36 B.C., the Japanese held the first ever competitive swimming race. Further research and studies in swimming by different feudal Japanese clans led to the establishment of swimming as a military art and the formation of the first national swimming organization in Japan in 1603 (Nauright & Parrish, 2012).

Digby, in his early Latin paper, acknowledged the ability of humans to swim forward, backwards, vertically, upside down, on top and beneath water, horizontally, and on the sides (Love, 2013). This created the foundation of different swimming styles. In 78 A.D., swimming was introduced in Britain by the Romans as a sport for the lower classes. Different academic institutions started to include it in their curriculum, providing the award of academic certifications in swimming (Gifford, 2009). In 1896, this sport was made part of the modern Olympics games in Athens. FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation), the world swimming associations, was founded in 1908 and established and synchronized the rules and styles in swimming, leading to its popularity (Love, 2013).

Swimming Competitions

Competitive swimming was started based on the principal of identifying individuals with exemplary swimming skills with regards to speed and abiding to the stipulated swimming rules and guidelines. Competition in swimming is meant to create the least possible resistance so as to achieve the maximum possible speed. It typically involves an athlete going through an intense training cycle, in which the body is overloaded with work. This workload is reduced as the athlete approaches the competition period (Montgomery & Chambers, 2009). This is referred to as “Tapering”, and it is followed by a final stage that is termed as “Shave and Taper”. Swimming at the Olympic Games involves both male and female athletes taking part in 16 events held in a 50-meter swimming pool referred to as the Long Course Pool (Love, 2013). The competition involves 40 individual swimming events within the pool that are officially recognized, but the international Olympic committee only acknowledges 32 of these events.

Open water swimming has also emerged as a significant activity in swimming competitions. This entails the events being swum in a large body of open water such as sea or lake. Events range from 5km, 10 km to 25 km, for both male and female competitors. However, the Olympics schedule only acknowledges the 10 km event for both female and male (Montgomery& Chambers, 2009). This event is typically separated from other competitions and tournaments with the exception of the Olympics tournament and the World Championships. Swimming involves four main swimming styles are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Swimming competition may have only one of these styles with the exception of individual medley events, which have all the four styles (Gifford, 2009). In the individual medley competition, sportsmen swim an equal distance for butterfly, followed by backstroke, then breaststroke, and finish with freestyle. This event referred to as the “IM” and is swum in 200 meters or 400 meters, or yard distances (Nauright & Parrish, 2012). However, in the junior championships, some competitions may involve swimming 100 yard or “IM” meters  such as in club swimming or the over 18 masters swimming (Love, 2013).

 

 

 

Basic Swimming Rules

          Swimming rules and guidelines are devised and synchronized by the world swimming governing body FINA, in conjunction with other swimming governing bodies in respective countries and regions. This is meant to provide an equitable and fare competitive platform for all competing swimmers; hence, promote uniformity during the competitions and the sport in general (University Place Aquatic Club, 2007). Each stroke in swimming has its unique guidelines and rules that are designed so as to ensure that there is no unfair competitive advantage among the swimmers (Montgomery& Chambers, 2009). The technical rules are stipulated and documented in different publications, including the “United States Swimming Rules and Regulations” which is the commonly used universal publication. Other swimming events, such as the individual medley and relay, in which a group of four swimmers may all swim freestyle or each swim the competitive strokes starting with backstroke, breaststroke, followed by butterfly, and finally the freestyle, all abide to these rules in relation to the respective stroke being swum (Love, 2013). 

          Freestyle events permit the sportsmen to swim any of the competitive strokes. The crawl is the most commonly used form of swimming characterized by alternate stroking of arms through the water surface and an up and down alternate flutter kick (Montgomery & Chambers, 2009). During turns and finishing, the swimmer must touch the wall of the pool; hence, most swimmers prefer doing flip turns when turning of finishing. The backstroke involves an alternating movement of both arms together with a back flutter kick; this is done while on the back. During turning, the swimmer rotates to the stomach so that they can flip turn while some part of the body touches the wall (University Place Aquatic Club, 2007).

          In the breaststroke, the swimmer is required to perform simultaneous movement of both arms on a horizontal plane. The hands are projected outwards from the front of the breast region moving in a heart shaped manner and then recovered on the surface of the water or under water. The kicks are released simultaneously for both legs in synchrony with the arms in a circular motion, like the swimming of a frog (Montgomery & Chambers, 2009). On the finish and turn, the swimmer touches the wall simultaneously with two arms. The butterfly stroke features the simultaneous recovering of both arms on the water surface together with a dolphin kick (Love, 2013). During the kick, the swimmer has to ensure both legs are kept together and should not flutter and use a breaststroke kick or scissors. Both hands have to touch the wall on turns and finishing.

          The individual medley features all the four strokes. The swimmer has to start with butterfly, change to backstroke after covering a quarter of the race, followed by breaststroke, and finish with freestyle. During all races, swimmers are not allowed to conduct false start. This may lead to the competitor being disqualified from a race if the starter thinks the swimmer jumped the start to have an advantage over the others (University Place Aquatic Club, 2007). However, in the Olympics, competitors are allowed a maximum of two false starts. Other rules on turns and finishes involve touching the wall with both hands at the same time on breaststroke and butterfly. Consequently, the swimmer should not freestyle kick on the wall, and both arms should move simultaneously (University Place Aquatic Club, 2007).

 

 

Competition Pools, Seasons, and Swimwear

          Swimming events are conducted in special sports swimming pools referred to as long course pools covering a distance of 50 meters, such as those in the Olympic swimming competitions. Short course pools covering 25 yards are also commonly used such as those employed during FINA World Swimming Championships. These pools have starting blocks used for diving and touch sensitive pads that electronically record the time for each swimmer. In the United States, club swimming occurs in two main seasons (University Place Aquatic Club, 2007). The short course season entails swimming in the 25 yards short course pools and lasts from September to march, while the long course season occurs from April to August in the 50 meters pools (Nauright & Parrish, 2012). In addition to the club swimming season, other swimming competitions include the Swimming Games of Small states of Europe, IPC Swimming World Championships, African Swimming Championship, Summer Swimming Olympics, The Youth Olympics, the U.S. Open Swimming, UAAP Swimming Championships, and the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (Nauright & Parrish, 2012).

          Competitive swimming also involves its specific swim wear that is designed to improve on human skin to avoid resistance; hence, capitalize on speed advantage. Swimsuits are used to cover the skin, and are mainly used for modesty. FINA altered its rules and regulations that resulted to banning of polyurethane suits as they improved the athletes’ buoyance. Swim cap is made of spandex, latex, lycra, or silicone; it covers the hair to reduce drag while goggles cover the eyes to keep off contact with chlorine and water. Other swim wear include swim fins for faster kick, drag suit for increase resistance when pulling back, paddles  for improved arm and shoulder strength, kickboard, pull buoy, snorkel, and zoomers (Nauright& Parrish, 2012). 

 

 

 

Conclusion

          Swimming as a sport has witnessed significant changes as a result of improved training techniques as well as new developments. Competition suits have consequently been improved to embrace the use of engineered swimming fabric and designs that reduce drag and fatigue on the swimmers (Gifford, 2009). Major changes have also been implemented in starting blocks from small, narrow, and straight to inclined, bigger and, wider blocks. Consequently, adjustments have been implemented by FINA on the rules and regulations so as to cater for the changing times in relation to scientific research conducted in swimming (Love, 2013). It is believed that with better studies in this sport, swimming will be greatly improved and developed across the globe.

 

References

Gifford, C. (2009). Swimming. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish.  

Love, C. (2013). A Social History of Swimming in England, 1800 – 1918: Splashing in the Serpentine. New York, NY: Routledge.  

Montgomery, J. & Chambers, M. (2009). Mastering Swimming. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

Nauright, J. & Parrish, C. (2012). Sports around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

University Place Aquatic Club. (2007). BASIC SWIMMING RULES. UPACSHARKS. Retrieved from http://www.upacsharks.org/documents/BASICSWIMMINGRULES.pdf