The Sport of Swimming Water Polo
The Sport of Swimming: Water Polo
Swimming is the act of moving through water by using the arms and legs. There is no way of telling how long the sport has been around. Pictures and drawings show men swimming in a dog stroke. The first known race happened in the year 1844 in London, England and was established by the England's Swimming Society. In this race, American Indians won using windmill strokes.
The sport of swimming was introduced in 1896 in Athens, Greece. It was later split into the following events: the backstroke (in 1900), the breaststroke (in 1908) and the butterfly (in 1956). There was also a time when people were afraid of swimming because they thought the bubonic plague and other diseases were spread by water.
Swim meets are held in long-course and short-course pools. The long course measures 164 feet, and the short course is 75 feet long; both have 6-10 lanes. In races, 8 lanes must be used. Wall targets, lane lines and lane markers are used as a guide to swimmers.
There are five kinds of races-freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, and individual medley. In freestyle races, swimmers can choose any of the four main strokes (the front crawl, the backstroke, the breaststroke, or the butterfly. Swimmers usually choose the front crawl swimming stroke because it is the fastest and most efficient.
In traditional swim meets, swimmers must compete just for qualifying times. Then they may enter larger events. Large meets have many officials, or judges. The chief official is the referee. The referee supervises the other officials and makes sure that all rules are followed.
Once feared and now an Olympic sport, swimming grows more popular as decades go on.