Swimming
History
Despite not being an exercise as natural as walking or running for human beings, swimming has been around for millennia. In fact, swimming was popular in Rome and in Ancient Greece, as well as other civilisations, but it took a long time for it to turn into an organised competition and its diverse styles were developed differently throughout history.
One of the first records that may be found on swimming dates back to 1696, when M. Thevenal from France described a unique technique similar to what is currently known as the breaststroke. The technique consisted in the swimmer moving his/her arms similar to the way a toad moves. The backstroke was first developed in 1794 by Bernardi from Italy. He suggested moving both arms backwards at the same time. In 1912 this technique was perfected and became very similar to how the breaststroke is performed currently.
In 1873, John Trudgen from England developed a new technique that consisted in rotating the body sideways, while moving both arms over the water to push the swimmer forward. This would become known as the Trudgen technique or over-arm-stroke, which was perfected by Australian Richard Cavill and later, became the freestyle we know today.
Finally, in the 1930s, while taking part in competitions, American swimmers realised that the breaststroke rules did not say that the arms could not be moved over the water, which allowed for more speed. This manoeuvre co-existed with the breaststroke style for almost 20 years, when in 1948, a Hungarian swimmer changed it into the butterfly. In fact, it was not until 1953 that the International Swimming Federation recognised this technique as a swimming style in its own right.
The first competitions date back to the 19th century. For example, in 1858, Australia hosted the 440 yard World Championship. In 1869, the 1st National Championship was held in England and in 1877, the Americans also started organising competitions through the New York Athletic Club. Little by little the sport gained strength and during the 1908 Olympics in London, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) was founded. The organisation acts as the governing body of all swimming competitions, as well as synchronised swimming, water polo and diving.
The sport officially started in Brazil on 31 July 1897, when the União de Regatas Fluminense – a rowing and swimming club – was founded. A year later, the Clube de Natação e Regatas – rowing and swimming club - organised the first Brazilian Championship, which consisted of a 1,500 metre race between the Villegaignon Fortress and Santa Luzia beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Curiosities
Pools? Only in the 1930s
Despite being a thousand year old practice, the habit of competing in pools is recent. Exclusive pools for swimming competitions only started being used between 1930 and 1940. In fact, it was the International Swimming Federation (FINA) that established the official size of competition pools. Currently, the competitions are held in long pools (50 metres) – used at the Olympics –, or short pools (25 metres).
