Swimming

   About

   "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win."

   That was the reaction of 19-year-old Hungarian Alfred Hajos after he won the 1200 metres freestyle at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. He won by being the first swimmer to reach shore after a boat had left everyone in the icy waters of the Mediterranean.

   Olympic swimming has come a long way, to temperature-controlled 50-metre pools, wave-killing gutters, lane markers designed to reduce turbulence, and status as one of the Games' glamour events. It is far removed from those early days.

   There were the venues, from the Bay of Zea in 1896, to Paris's River Seine in 1900, to a 100-metre pool constructed inside the athletics track in 1908. Then there were the events, from a 100-metre race for Greek sailors in 1896, to underwater and obstacle races in 1900, to a "plunge for distance" in 1908. That event involved a standing dive, with contestants then remaining motionless for 60 seconds, or until their heads broke the surface - whichever came first.

    Competition

   Women's swimming events became a regular part of the Olympic Games in 1912, and men and women now compete in 16 events each. The programme involves four different strokes across a range of distances.

   Freestyle races cover 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres. The 800m is for women only, the 1500m for men only. The butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke races each cover 100 and 200 metres. All four strokes are used in the 200m and 400m individual medley events.

   The 4 x 100m freestyle, 4 x 200m freestyle and 4 x 100m medley relays complete the programme.

   Each race has a maximum of eight swimmers. Preliminary heats in the 50m, 100m and 200m lead to semi-finals and finals based on the fastest times. In relays and individual events of 400 metres or more, the eight fastest finishers in the preliminaries advance directly to the finals.

   List of events

   -- 100m backstroke Men

   -- 100m breaststroke Men

   -- 100m butterfly Men

   -- 100m freestyle Men

   -- 1500m freestyle Men

   -- 200m backstroke Men

   -- 200m breaststroke Men

   -- 200m butterfly Men

   -- 200m freestyle Men

   -- 200m individual medley Men

   -- 400m freestyle Men

   -- 400m individual medley Men

   -- 4x100m freestyle relay Men

   -- 4x100m medley relay Men

   -- 4x200m freestyle relay Men

   -- 50m freestyle Men

   -- marathon 10km Men

   -- 100m backstroke Women

   -- 100m breaststroke Women

   -- 100m butterfly Women

   -- 100m freestyle Women

   -- 200m backstroke Women

   -- 200m breaststroke Women

   -- 200m butterfly Women

   -- 200m freestyle Women

   -- 200m individual medley Women

   -- 400m freestyle Women

   -- 400m individual medley Women

   -- 4x100m freestyle relay Women

   -- 4x100m medley relay Women

   -- 4x200m freestyle relay Women

   -- 50m freestyle Women

   -- 800m freestyle Women

   -- marathon 10km Women

Swimming: History

   Discipline's origin

   Swimming is an ancient discipline, as prehistoric man had to learn to swim in order to cross rivers and lakes. There are numerous references in Greek mythology to swimming, the most notable being that of Leander swimming the Hellespont (now the Dardenelle straits) nightly to see his beloved Hero.

   Swimming as a sport was probably not practised widely until the early 19th century. The National Swimming Society of Great Britain was formed in 1837 and began to conduct competitions. Most early swimmers used the breaststroke or a form of it. In the 1870s, a British swimming instructor named J. Arthur Trudgeon travelled to South America, where he saw natives there using an alternate arm overhand stroke. He brought it back to England as the famous trudgeon stroke - a crawl variant with a scissors kick.

   In the late 1880s an Englishman named Frederick Cavill travelled to the South Seas, where he saw the natives performing a crawl with a flutter kick.. Cavill settled in Australia where he taught the stroke that was to become the famous Australian crawl.

   Olympic history

   Swimming has been held at every Olympic Games. The early events were usually only conducted in freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. Backstroke was added as of the 1904 Games. In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered they could go much faster by bringing both arms overhead together. This was banned in the breaststroke shortly thereafter but became the butterfly stroke, which is now the fourth stroke used in competitive swimming. Women's swimming was first held at the 1912 Olympics. It has since been conducted at all the Olympics. Men and women compete in an almost identical programme. They have the same number of events but the freestyle distance for women is 800 metres while for men it is 1500 metres.

Swimming: Equipment

   Goggles

   Used to protect the eyes and improve visibility underwater

   Lap card

   A card displayed by a turn judge at the turn side of a lane to inform swimmers in 800m and 1500m freestyle events.

   Starting blocks

   Swimming cap

   Used to keep hair clear of eyes.

   Swim suit

   Touch pad

   The pad at the end of each lane in the pool where a swimmer's time is registered and sent electronically to the timing system.

Swimming: Glossary

   "Scissor" kick: A propelling motion of the legs by which they move essentially like the blades of a pair of scissors, once used in competitive racing but now relegated to the sidestroke.

   Backstroke: A stroke in which the swimmer is on his or her back performing a flutter-kick and rotating the arms alternately backward.

   Breaststroke: A stroke made in the prone position in which both hands move simultaneously forward, outward and rearward from in front of the chest, and the legs move in a frog-like manner.

   Butterfly: A stroke made in the prone position where both arms are lifted simultaneously out of the water and flung forward, in combination with the dolphin kick.

   Crawl: A stroke made in the prone position characterised by alternate over arm movements and a continuous up-and-down kick; originally known as the Australian crawl.

   Dolphin kick: A kick performed in the butterfly stroke by which the legs are held together and moved up and down by bending and straightening them at the knee twice in quick succession; also used in backstroke starts and turns.

   False start: A start in which one or more swimmers leaves the blocks before the starting signal.

   False-start rope: A rope dropped into the water about 15 metres from the starting end of the pool to stop any swimmer who does not hear a false-start signal.

   Flutter-kick: A kick, usually performed as part of the crawl, where the legs are held straight and moved up and down alternately.

   Freestyle: An event where the swimmers may use any stroke they choose, which typically is the crawl.

   Gravity wave: The wave action, caused by the swimmers' bodies moving through the water, which moves down and forward from the swimmer, bounces off the bottom of the pool, then returns to the surface as turbulence.

   Heat: An early race in an event which qualifies the fastest finishers for the semi-finals or final.

   Lane: The area of the pool where each swimmer competes during a race.

   Lane lines: The dividers used to delineate the individual lanes, now constructed to dissipate surface turbulence.

   Lap: A length of the pool.

   Leg: One of a number of sections of an event or relay, each of which must be completed to determine the winner.

   Length: One lap; from one end of the pool to the other.

   Medley: A combination event in which a swimmer or relay team swims separate legs of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

   Negative split: A race strategy in which a swimmer covers the second half of a race faster than the first half.

   One start rule: A rule by which swimmers are disqualified after having caused a false start in an event.

   Relay: A race between teams of swimmers, with each swimmer swimming one leg of the event.

   Relay take-over: The exchange between the swimmer in the water and the next swimmer on the relay team.

   Roll: To move on the blocks before a team-mate touches the touch pad in a relay race to get a good start, legal as long as the swimmer doesn't leave the blocks before the team-mate has touched.

   Split: A swimmer's intermediate time in a race, registered every 50 metres, to record the swimmer's pace.

   Surf: To swim just behind a swimmer in an adjacent lane to take advantage of the wave created by that swimmer.

   Touch: To touch the end of the pool with the hand or hands, completing an event or relay leg.

   Tumble turn: An underwater roll at the end of a lap, used in backstroke and freestyle, allowing the swimmer to push off from the end of the pool with the feet.

   Turn: The turnaround by a swimmer at each end of the pool.

   Turn judge: An official at each end of the lane responsible for ensuring a swimmer turns correctly and, in the longer races, for displaying lap cards to inform a swimmer how many laps remain.