Swimming (sport)
Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports,[1] with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley.A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.[4] 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.In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss–German professor of languages, wrote the earliest known complete book about swimming, Colymbetes, sive de arte natandi dialogus et festivus et iucundus lectu (The Swimmer, or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming and Joyful and Pleasant to Read).The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.[7] In 1844 two Native American participants at a swimming competition in London introduced the front crawl to a European audience.The goal of high level competitive swimming is to break personal or world records while beating competitors in any given event.However, some professional swimmers who do not hold a national or world ranking are considered the best in regard to their technical skills.David Berkoff became the first to use it successfully; at the 1988 Olympics, he swam most of the 100 m backstroke race underwater and broke the world record in the distance during the preliminaries.Another swimmer to use the technique was Denis Pankratov at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he completed almost half of the 100 m butterfly underwater to win the gold medal.The dolphin kick was rarely used in freestyle sprint races until 2008, when "technical" swimsuits were introduced to the sport at the European Short Course Championships in Rijeka, Croatia.[16] In the past decade, American competitive swimmers have made the most use of the underwater dolphin kick, notably Olympic and World medal winners Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.As of right now, in club, school, and college swimming in the United States and Canada, the short course (25 yards) season is much longer, from September to March.The long-course season takes place in 50-meter pools and lasts from April to the end of August with open water in the summer months.Outside the United States, meters is the standard in both short and long course swimming, with the same distances swum in all events.The referee will then blow another long whistle, signalling the swimmers to grab the gutter or the provided block handle.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.Appeals are reviewed by a panel of officials instead of the deck referee or stroke judges who may have made the initial disqualification decision.The practice gained popularity after the 1956 Olympics, when Murray Rose and Jon Henricks came shaved and won gold medals for Australia.Outside of these major championships prize money is low – the 2015 FINA World Cup series has a total prize fund of $3,000 per race shared between the top three[28] and the 2014–15 USA Grand Prix Series $1,800[29] compared to the 2015 World Aquatics Championships fund of $60,000 per race shared between the top eight.[clarification needed] Male swimmers wore full-body suits until the 1940s, which caused more drag in the water than their modern swimwear counterparts experience.Competition suits now include engineered fabric and designs to reduce swimmers' drag in the water and prevent athlete fatigue.This enables the swimmer to adopt a crouched position at a 90 degrees angle and push off quicker with the rear leg to increase their launch power.In the freestyle, swimmers originally dove from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated at the 1936 Summer Olympics.In addition, a key hole pull in the breaststroke start and turns has been added to help speed up the stroke.[42] The U.S. Census Bureau reports that two and a half hours per week of aerobic physical activity such as swimming can decrease the risk of chronic illnesses, and help regenerate healthy cells.[43] Furthermore, swimming is linked to better cognitive function; also lowering the risk of Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and a stroke.[39] People can typically exercise longer in water than on land without increased effort and minimal joint or muscle pain.Swimming is a meditation sport meaning there is an increase of blood flow to the brain which allows an individual to evaluate stressors more calmly.Due to the nature of the joint being primarily stabilized by muscle and tendon, the injury must be fully healed to prevent recurrence.
SwimmingSwimmer (disambiguation)2008 Summer OlympicsBeijinggoverning bodyWorld AquaticsNatatoriumopen-waterOlympicWorld ChampionshipsParalympicracing sportOlympic sportsbutterflybackstrokebreaststrokefreestyleindividual medleyswimsuitstendinitisHistory of swimmingLeanderHellespontBernard PicartStone AgeOdysseyBeowulfNational Swimming Societyswimming poolsLondonAmateur Swimming AssociationEnglish ChannelNative Americannew strokeMatthew WebbGermanyFranceHungaryViennaScotlandOlympic Games1896 in AthensRichmond CavillFédération Internationale de Natation1922 Women's OlympiadList of swimming competitionsKatie LedeckytaperingMichael PhelpsSummer Olympic GameseventsInternational Olympic Committeeopen water swimmingshort courseDavid BerkoffDenis PankratovEuropean Short Course ChampionshipsAmaury Leveaux100 m freestyleRyan LochteOlympic-size swimming poolSummer OlympicsWorld Championshiplong courseWorld recordsAustralasiarefereeofficialCompetitive swimwearAustralian Swim TeamSwimsuitSwim capGoggleschlorineSwim FinsDrag suitHand paddlesKickboardPull buoySnorkelSpeedoAdidasTyler Claryswim briefsHayley Palmerone-piece swimsuitbriefsbarechestedBeijing Olympic GamesbikiniWorld Aquatics ChampionshipsPier to Pub1904 Olympics1908 Olympics1912 Olympicselectronic timingresistance1924 Summer Olympics1936 Summer Olympicstumble turn1976 Olympicsworld records in swimming100 m200 m400 m800 m1500 m4×50 m freestyle relay4×100 m freestyle4×200 m freestyle4×50 m medley relay4×100 m medleySwimming injuriesDivingFINA World Aquatics ChampionshipsFree ColchianGeorgian swimmingLifeguardList of swimming stylesList of water sportsList of world records in swimmingSports nutritionSynchronized swimmingSwimming at the Summer OlympicsU.S. Masters SwimmingWater aerobics